Countries with high levels of overweight people, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, have the highest mortality rates for Covid-19, according to a relevant report, which calls on governments to tackle obesity urgently , in addition to giving priority to overweight people to get vaccinated.
Approximately 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths caused by Covid occurred in countries with high levels of overweight people, according to the World Obesity Federation report. Countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy, where more than 50% of adults are overweight, have the highest proportions of coronavirus-related deaths.
The issue is not just obesity, but weight levels that many assume are now normal in many countries. Mortality rates are ten times higher in those where more than half of the adults had a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kg / m2, the point at which normal weight becomes overweight.
According to the World Obesity Federation, overweight people should have higher priority in vaccines and testing because of their higher risk of death.
Among the countries where more than half of the adult population is overweight, Belgium has the highest death rate, followed by Slovenia and the United Kingdom. Italy and Portugal are fifth and sixth, while the United States is eighth.
Vietnam, by contrast, has the lowest Covid mortality rate in the world and the second lowest level of overweight in the population.
graphic
The director general of the World Health Organization said the report should act as a wake-up call to governments around the world to combat the obesity and ill health it causes.
“The correlation between Covid-19 obesity and mortality rates is clear and compelling,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Investing in public health and coordinated international action to combat the root causes of obesity is one of the best ways for countries to build resilience in post-pandemic health systems: we urge all countries to seize this moment “.
According to the report, the most important factor in mortality is age, but overweight is the second. It is already known that it increases people’s risk when they get infectious diseases like the flu.
“We were surprised to see such a high correlation between the proportion of overweight adults in a country and their deaths from Covid-19,” said Dr. Tim Lobstein, author of the report and former advisor to the WHO and Public Health England.
“We knew there was a problem in some countries, but we found it to be extraordinarily consistent around the world, with only a few extreme values like New Zealand and Iceland, where they have taken firm steps to protect a vulnerable population.”
The risks increase with the increase in overweight. An analysis of data seen by The Guardian shows that in the UK, where almost 64% of adults are overweight or obese, almost 20% of patients with intensive care covids are overweight, 32% are overweight and 48% are obese. In the US, where overweight and adult obesity are 68%, 12% of covid patients in intensive care are normal weight, 24% are overweight, and 64% are obese.
The results allow for age and are not skewed by the poor data of some countries, Lobstein said. Deaths tend to be accurately reported even if hospitalizations are not. They adjusted to GDP and found that income levels played no role either. “There are rich countries with low levels of overweight, such as Japan and South Korea, and they have very low coveted mortality rates. Likewise, there are countries with lower incomes such as South Africa and Brazil, where overweight now affects more of half the population, where we see high mortality rates for Covid-19, ”he said.
“We now know that an overweight population is the next pandemic waiting to happen,” Lobstein said.
“Governments have been negligent and have ignored the economic value of a healthy population at risk. Over the past decade, they have failed to address obesity, despite setting goals at UN meetings. “Covid-19 is just the latest infection aggravated by weight problems, but the warning signs were there.”
Most countries will miss the UN goal of halving the rise in obesity levels between 2010 and 2025. “It seems that governments want not to take on trade interests in food and agriculture. 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 was a difficult call for people, because losing weight is very hard. “People make a living selling individual weight plans and weight loss products, but in a society like ours, obviously, personal products are not enough with their incentives for economic consumption of food and their inequalities. growing “.
Michael R Bloomberg, WHO’s ambassador for non-communicable injuries and illnesses, said the results “underscore the importance of fighting obesity worldwide, including low- and middle-income countries where rates are rising the fastest. “We have seen the positive impact of healthy food policies in dozens of countries and together we can make even more progress in saving and improving lives.”