Italian Researchers Say Mild Obesity Can Lead to Severe Complications With COVID-19

Even mild obesity can lead to severe complications from COVID-19 and, in some cases death, according to a study published Thursday, reports Newsweek.

Italian researchers assessed data from 482 COVID-19 patients who were admitted to the Sant’Orsola Hospital in Bologna, a hard-hit city in Italy.

Just over a fifth of the patients had a body mass index of 30 or over. A person is obese if they have a BMI of over 40. Of the patients obesity, 52 percent had respiratory failure, 30 percent died within 30 days of their symptoms appearing, 25 percent needed a ventilator.

The results were published in the European Journal of Endocrinology.

“People of any grade of obesity are at a greater risk of severe illness due to COVID-19,” Matteo Rottoli, MD, PhD, a consultant surgeon in surgery of the alimentary tract at Sant’Orsola Hospital and Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy, told Healio. “People with obesity and COVID-19 should be carefully assessed and followed in order to prevent or treat the deterioration of the clinical picture due to the infection, particularly regarding the onset of respiratory failure.”

More than 35,000 people have died in Italy from COVID-19.

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