Nearly 90 percent of coronavirus deaths have occurred in countries with high levels of obesity, according to researchers – who now want overweight people to be given priority for vaccinations.
Death rates have been 10 times higher in countries like the US, where at least 50% of the total population is overweight, according to a study by the World Health Organization, published on Thursday by the World Obesity Federation.
“[This] it must act as a wake-up call to governments globally, ”said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to the Financial Times. The correlation between obesity and mortality rates from COVID-19 is clear and convincing.
Weight is believed to be the second largest predictor of severe diseases caused by the virus by age, according to the study, which represents medical professionals in 50 regional and national obesity associations.
For the report, researchers examined mortality data from Johns Hopkins University and WHO Global Health Observatory data that showed that a total of 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths worldwide were in countries with high levels of obesity. .
The researchers found no examples of high COVID-19 mortality rates in countries where less than 40% of the population was overweight, according to the report.
For example, Vietnam has the lowest coronavirus mortality rate in the world and the second lowest level of overweight people, at just 0.04 deaths per 100,000 due to COVID-19, with 18.3 percent of overweight adults, according to WHO data.
In contrast, the UK has the third highest COVID-19 death rate in the world and the fourth highest obesity rate, with 184 deaths per 100,000 and 63.7 per cent of overweight adults.
The United States recorded approximately 152 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 and has an obesity rate of 68%.
Tim Lobstein, WOF’s senior policy adviser and author of the report, called the increase in national obesity-related death rates “dramatic”.
Meanwhile, according to a study published last month, the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine may be less effective in protecting obese people.
Researchers in Rome found that obese people who received two doses of the vaccine generated a weaker antibody response, according to a report on the Medrxiv prepress server.
The study, which was not evaluated by colleagues, assessed the effect of the vaccine on 248 health workers seven days after the final dose, the Guardian reported.
Researchers at the Queen Elena National Cancer Institute found that those considered obese – defined as having a body mass index over 30 – produced about half the amount of antibodies compared to people who had a healthy body weight, the Guardian reported.
It is currently unknown what level of antibodies is needed to neutralize the virus, but experts fear that a reduced antibody response may impede inoculation efforts.