A Study Shows That Weight Loss Can Reduce The Risk Of Covid 19.
From a recent study carried out by the Cleveland Clinic, it is found that obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery previously lost 60% of their risk of developing severe complications of COVID-19 infection. The Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multidisciplinary academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education based in Cleveland, Ohio. This study was published in the journal JAMA Surgery.
A Study Shows That Weight Loss Can Reduce The Risk Of Covid 19.
Obesity has become more like an epidemic in the United States and other major developed and developing countries. The frequency of obesity is not only affecting adults but also even children and teenagers. It has become a major threat in increasing the risk of getting affected by chronic diseases and increasing the death rate.
But what really is obesity? Obesity is the increase in the body mass index(BMI) and has become a major medical condition faced by doctors throughout the globe. More than 32.2% of the adults are obese and 17.1% of children and teenagers were overweight in the united states.
Over the last 50 years, there has been a rapid growth in the pervasiveness of obesity and this has even affected the quality of your over these years. Not only this, but obesity has even increased the number of deaths over these years from several chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer and has even led to depression.
These diseases that come along with obesity should be taken into care to create more awareness among people about the adverse effects of obesity. This helps a lot in providing the essential care to reduce the risk of an increase in the death rate due to obesity.
Nowadays, physicians all over the world are so much concerned about the risk of chronic diseases in patients who are obese. Creating awareness regarding the chances of being affected by obesity-related disorders may help in the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease in people who can benefit from weight loss. This helps in detecting the disease early thus reducing the risk of the death rate. According to the Obesity Society, obesity was associated with functional disorders such as reduced quality of life, serious illness, and increased death rate.
Even with the significant effects of obesity, weight loss can significantly reduce the risk of getting affected by many comorbid conditions. Weight loss can be attained by several methods like following a strict and healthy diet, heavy workouts, even many supplements may also help. But a few people are not benefited from any result even after doing all these. For such people, many surgeries could help in attaining a healthy weight.
Weight loss surgeries are commonly known as bariatric surgery that makes changes in your digestive system resulting in weight loss. As mentioned above, these surgeries are carried out for patients who have no difference in body weight after diets and exercise and also for patients who have serious health issues due to being overweight.
According to Dr. Ali Aminian, Director of Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, the result from the study was quite surprising. The study was carried out from March 2020 to March 2021 and he said that the study was very encouraging since it could help patients, healthcare providers, policymakers, etc to take obesity seriously. Also, he stated that from the beginning of the epidemic it became clear that obesity was a major risk factor for COVID-19.
Dr. Aminian said that the health consequences due to obesity in the context of COVID-19 can be reversed if patients lose their body weight. From several other studies, it is confirmed that obesity is one of the major risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection, a virus that causes COVID-19, because it weakens the immune system, causes chronic inflammation, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, blood clotting, and lung disease.
The study included results of more than 20,000 people who were obese and approximately 5000 among them had undergone bariatric surgery at the clinic between 2004 and 2017 matched the 1: 3 ratio with approximately 15,000 obese patients who did not undergo surgery. The study found that patients who had previously undergone weight loss surgery had a 49% lower risk of hospitalization and a 63% lower need for extra oxygen, and a 60% lower risk of developing severe COVID-19.
According to Steven Nissen, the study’s senior author, the study showed that focusing on weight loss as a public health strategy can improve outcomes in the event of a COVID-19 epidemic, future outbreaks, or related infectious diseases. He also added that the findings from the study are so important since 40% of Americans are obese.
