A woman walks down the street on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.
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An overwhelming majority of people who are hospitalized, require a ventilator, or have died from Covid-19 are overweight or obese, the CDC said in a new study Monday.
Of the 148,494 adults who received a Covid-19 diagnosis during an emergency department or a hospital visit in 238 U.S. hospitals from March to December, 71,491 were hospitalized. Of those included, 27.8% were overweight and 50.2% obese, the CDC report said. Overweight is defined as a body mass index of 25 or more, while obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or more.
The agency found that the risk of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths was lowest in individuals with BMIs under 25. However, the risk of serious illness “increased dramatically” as BMIs increased, especially among people 65 and older. , the agency said.
According to the agency’s most recent statistics, in 2018, just over 42% of the U.S. population was considered obese.
It doesn’t take many extra pounds to be considered overweight or obese. A 175-pound 5-foot-10-inch man and 146-pound 5-foot-4-inch woman would both be considered overweight with BMIs of just over 25, according to the CDC’s BMI calculator. A man and woman of the same height would be considered obese at 210 pounds and 175 pounds, respectively.
“As clinicians develop care plans for COVID-19 patients, they must consider the risk of serious outcomes in patients with higher BMIs, especially those with severe obesity,” the agency wrote.
The CDC added that the findings highlight the clinical and public health implications of higher BMIs, including the promotion of Covid prevention strategies such as ongoing vaccine prioritization, masking, and policies to ensure community access to nutrition and physical activities.
Obesity is a common and costly chronic disease in the US Non-Hispanic Black adults have the highest prevalence of self-reported obesity in the US, followed by Hispanic adults and non-Hispanic White people, the CDC said.
The CDC has previously noted that being obese increases the risk of serious illness, including hospital admissions. Obesity has been linked to decreased immune function and reduced lung capacity that can make ventilation more difficult, the agency said.
The study had limitations, the CDC said. Risk estimates for severe Covid-19 were only measured in adults receiving hospital care. Therefore, these estimates may differ from the risk in all adults with Covid, the CDC said. In addition, only patients with reported height and weight information were included in the report.
The CDC has obtained data from PHD-SR, a large, hospital-based database.