Double trouble: a pandemic of obesity and COVID-19
Authors: Santosh Kumar K Y, Praveen Kumar R Bhat, Chandrashekar J Sorake
Journal: The Lancet. Gastroenterology & hepatology (2021)

The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology's editorial, Obesity: another ongoing pandemic,1The Lancet Gastroenterology & HepatologyObesity: another ongoing pandemic.Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021; 6: 411Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (62) Google Scholar is appropriate during the current times to focus on the issue of obesity across the world. Obesity is a major health-care concern, even in middle-income and low-income countries, because of its association with chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers. Research has revealed that obesity weakens the immune system, thus making the individual susceptible to infectious diseases. Obesity has emerged as a strong risk factor for severe disease during the COVID-19 pandemic; several studies have shown that individuals with COVID-19 and obesity have an increased risk of severe disease, hospitalisation, and death.2Mohammad S Aziz R Al Mahri S et al.Obesity and COVID-19: what makes obese host so vulnerable?.Immun Ageing. 2021; 18: 1Crossref PubMed Scopus (99) Google Scholar The findings of a prospective community-based cohort study highlighted that a body-mass index greater than 23 kg/m2 is associated with increased risks of severe COVID-19 outcomes, particularly in patients younger than 40 years.3Gao M Piernas C Astbury NM et al.Associations between body-mass index and COVID-19 severity in 6·9 million people in England: a prospective, community-based, cohort study.Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2021; 9: 350-359Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (311) Google Scholar This large population-based study corroborated evidence of obesity being a major risk factor associated with adverse outcomes in patients with COVID-19.2Mohammad S Aziz R Al Mahri S et al.Obesity and COVID-19: what makes obese host so vulnerable?.Immun Ageing. 2021; 18: 1Crossref PubMed Scopus (99) Google Scholar The prevalence of overweight and obesity in India has doubled during the past two decades, leading to a notable increase in the burden of non-communicable diseases.4Luhar S Timæus IM Jones R et al.Forecasting the prevalence of overweight and obesity in India to 2040.PLoS One. 2020; 15e0229438Crossref PubMed Scopus (100) Google Scholar Although India has made tremendous progress in providing primary and preventive health care to its citizens, it has not recognised obesity as a major health-care concern to be acted on. The severity with which the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit India, affecting millions of young people who haven not been immunised, suggests that obesity could be one of the most important determinants of adverse outcomes. The current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused the loss of thousands of young lives, should be a wake-up call for the policy makers to address the issue of the pandemic of obesity in India and across the world. Obesity is a modifiable risk factor of COVID-19 and one goal of public health bodies should be to achieve a healthy weight at the population level that might reduce adverse outcomes for non-communicable and infectious diseases, including COVID-19. We declare no competing interests. Obesity: another ongoing pandemicAccording to the latest WHO Global Health Observatory data , collated in 2016, more than 1·9 billion adults were overweight, with 650 million of these individuals being obese. The global prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016, with substantial rises in most countries, including those deemed to be low-income and middle-income nations. As such, the global spread of obesity has been labelled a pandemic, albeit one with a slower onset of cases and detrimental effects than the 2009 H1N1 pandemic or the COVID-19 pandemic. Full-Text PDF