Countries with many overweight people, such as the UK and the US, have the highest death rates from Covid-19, a historical report reveals, urging governments to urgently address obesity and prioritize overweight people for vaccinations.
About 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths from Covid occurred in countries with many overweight people, the World Obesity Federation report said. Countries like the UK, the US and Italy, where more than 50% of adults are overweight, have the highest rate of deaths from the coronavirus.
The problem isn’t just obesity, but the weight levels that many now think are normal in many countries. Mortality rates are 10 times higher in those where more than half of adults had a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kg / m2 – the point at which normal weight turns into overweight.
Overweight people should be given more priority in vaccinations and testing because of their increased risk of death, according to the World Obesity Federation.
Of the countries where more than half of the adult population is overweight, Belgium has the highest mortality rate, followed by Slovenia and the UK. Italy and Portugal are in 5th and 6th place, while the US is in 8th.
In contrast, Vietnam has the lowest Covid death rate in the world and the second lowest level of overweight in the population.
graphic
The World Health Organization Director General said the report should serve as a wake-up call for governments worldwide to address obesity and the ill health it causes.
“The correlation between obesity and death rates of Covid-19 is clear and compelling,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Investing in public health and coordinated international action to address the root causes of obesity is one of the best ways for countries to build resilience in health systems after a pandemic: we urge all countries to do this right now. grab.”
The biggest factor in the death toll is age, the report says, but obesity comes second. It is already known to increase people’s risk if they contract infectious diseases such as the flu.
“We were shocked to see such a high correlation between the proportion of overweight adults in a country and deaths from Covid-19,” said Dr. Tim Lobstein, the report’s author and former WHO advisor. and Public Health England.
“We knew there was a problem in a few countries, but we found that it was remarkably consistent around the world – with just a few outliers such as New Zealand and Iceland, where they have taken strong steps to reduce a vulnerable population. to protect.”
The risks increase with increasing obesity. An analysis of the Guardian’s data shows that in the UK, where nearly 64% of adults are overweight or obese, nearly 20% of Covid ICU patients are of normal weight, 32% are overweight and 48% obese. In the US, where overweight and obesity in adults is 68%, 12% of Covid ICU patients are of normal weight, 24% are overweight and 64% are obese.
The results take age into account and are not biased by bad data from some countries, Lobstein said. Deaths are usually accurately reported, even if they are not. They adjusted for GDP and found that income levels did not play a role either. “There are rich countries with little overweight, such as Japan and South Korea, and they have a very low death rate for Covid. Likewise, there are lower-income countries, such as South Africa and Brazil, where obesity now affects more than half of the population, where we see high death rates for Covid-19, ”he said.
“We now know that an overweight population is the next pandemic to come,” said Lobstein.
Governments have been negligent and have ignored the economic value of a healthy population at their peril. For the past decade, they have failed to tackle obesity, despite setting goals for themselves at United Nations meetings. Covid-19 is just the latest infection made worse by weight problems, but the warning signs were there. “
Most countries will fail to meet the UN target of halving the increase in obesity between 2010 and 2025. “It seems that governments want to avoid commercial interests in food and agriculture. Much like global warming and ocean pollution – the problem needs global leadership to ensure that industry and the market are there to serve the health of people and the health of the planet, ”he said. .
It has been a tough appeal for individuals because losing weight is very difficult. “People make a living selling individual weight plans and weight-loss products, but in a society like ours, with its incentives for cheap food consumption and growing inequality, personal products are clearly not enough,” he said.
Michael R. Bloomberg, WHO ambassador for non-communicable diseases and injuries, said the results “underscore the importance of fighting obesity around the world, including in low- and middle-income countries where rates are rising the fastest. We have seen the positive impact of healthy nutrition policies in dozens of countries, and together we can make even more progress by saving and improving lives. “