Gothenburg [Sweden]March 14 (ANI): A new study led by the University of Gothenburg has found that men with a high body mass index (BMI) in their late teens have an increased risk of severe covid-19 and may need to be hospitalized later in life.
The study was published in the journal Obesity.
The study included information from the conscription register of 1,551,670 men in Sweden, born between 1950 and 1987, who were conscripted during the period 1969-2005. In the beginning, their height and weight were measured.
By merging the conscription data with three Swedish doctor-registered – the National Patient Register, the Intensive Care Register and the Cause of Death Register – a clear connection between BMI in adolescence and the risk of getting covid-19, many years later, became serious enough to require hospitalization. Even clearer was the link between BMI in the upper teens and the need for intensive care for the disease.
For the study, the researchers divided the men into six groups, from underweight (BMI 15-18.5) to three levels of normal weight (18.5-20, 20-22.5 and 22.5-25), followed by overweight (25 -30) and obesity (BMI of 30 or more). Of the entire group during the academic year (2020), 4,315 men with covid-19 needed hospital care; 729 of them received intensive care and 224 died of covid-19.
Even for men who had been in the range of 22.5-25 BMI in their teens – that is, within the normal weight range – an increased risk of needing hospital care for covid-19 was found. The need gradually increased with rising BMI results from the time of military service 15 to 50 years earlier.
“At the population level, we can see that being overweight in late adolescence increases the risk of hospitalization and intensive care for covid-19. For those with adolescent obesity, the risk of being admitted to an intensive care unit is more than twice as high as for those with a BMI of 18.5- 20 “, by Josefina Robertson. Researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, doctor with a focus on infectious diseases at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and first author of the study.
Her colleague Maria Aberg is an associate professor at the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Sahlgrenska Academy, a doctor focusing on general medicine in regional health, part of the Västra Götaland region, and the last author of the study.
“Several studies have identified obesity as a risk factor for becoming seriously ill in covid-19, and we now show that overweight and obesity also play a role early in life,” said Aberg.
It is well known that obesity could be linked to an increased risk of becoming seriously ill from various infectious diseases, such as influenza. Obesity has a negative effect on the immune system and exacerbates a person’s susceptibility to inflammation, which can contribute to more serious infections.
In the current study, the early BMI values were found to follow men up to middle age. This is evident from data from health tests called health profile assessments, prepared by the Health Profile Institute (HPI), for 151,693 of the participants.
“It is interesting to see that men’s BMI in adolescence is a risk factor for severe covid-19 many years later. A high BMI in men’s teenagers also remained in middle age, which is a trend that other studies have also shown. That is why it “It is important to take preventive measures against obesity even at a young age, especially in the face of future virus pandemics”, concluded Josefina Robertson. (ANI)