Warning obesity should be tackled to help reduce coronavirus deaths
A review of scientific evidence has concluded that being overweight makes people more at risk of death and serious illness from Covid-19.
Health bosses say the case for tackling obesity has ‘never been stronger’ after publishing a review of evidence linking weight to coronavirus deaths.
Public Health England’s review looked at an array of studies and concluded it is ‘clear’ that being overweight or obese puts people at greater risk of serious illness or death from Covid-19.
It found that mortality as well as the chances of needing hospital treatment or intensive care all ‘seem to increase progressively with increasing BMI (body mass index) above the healthy weight range’.
Scientists have exposed risks due to other factors including age, ethnicity and sex, but PHE said losing weight may be one of the only ways people can manage their vulnerability to the disease.
Prof Susan Jebb, a public health professor at Oxford University who peer-reviewed the report, said it highlighted weight as the ‘the single most important modifiable risk factor’ for Covid.
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Dr Alison Tedstone, Chief Nutritionist at Public Health England, added: ‘It can be hard to lose weight and even harder to sustain it, which is why people cannot easily do it on their own.
‘Losing weight can bring huge benefits for health – and may also help protect against the health risks of COVID-19. The case for action on obesity has never been stronger.’
The UK has one of the highest levels of obesity in Europe. Almost two-thirds of adults in England are at least overweight, with similar rates in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Anyone with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9 is classed as overweight, while those with BMIs over 30 are classed as obese, according to the NHS.
The studies in the report offered a wide range of findings on the relative risk of excess weight with regards to the virus.
One suggested people living with BMIs over 25 were on average more than three times more likely to die and seven times more likely to need respiratory support in treatment, although the PHE reviewers criticised aspects of its methodology.
Another suggested mortality only significantly increased in obese patients, with a 5 per cent higher chance of death for people with BMIs between 30 and 35, and a 90 per cent higher chance for BMIs over 40.
While all the studies looked at established some link between weight problems and vulnerability to the disease, the report stressed that the science is still developing and called for more research.
The researchers were cautious to warn the evidence is less solid concerning the benefit of weight loss for people with other risk factors such as diabetes or coming from certain ethnic minority backgrounds.
Nonetheless they said ‘sustainable’ weight loss for people with excess weight was an urgent public health matter.
The report called for ‘deep, meaningful and sustained’ action to tackle the factors causing people to eat too much and not do exercise.
Boris Johnson is set to unveil a raft of measures to tackle obesity this week.
He is said to have dramatically changed his mind on whether the government should intervene on the matter during his spell in hospital suffering from Covid.
The plan is believed to include bans on junk food adverts on TV before 9pm and limits on supermarket promotions.
Some of these measures have previously been recommended by PHE, although it is currently unclear how the plan aims to get people exercising more.
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