Coronavirus: Australia fears high obesity rates could lead to more virus deaths

More than 20 per cent of Australians could be at risk of suffering more severe virus symptoms if the country is hit by a second wave of cases.

Overweight people are at a greater risk of dying from COVID-19, according to new studies

Two international studies, one of which came from America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), both found a clear link between obesity and COVID-19-related deaths.

Australian doctor Zac Turner fears that this will affect everyone, not just Aussies who are overweight.

“If you are obese, you have a 60 per cent higher chance of being hospitalised (for the virus),” Dr Turner told news.com.au. “COVID-19 hits obese people longer and more severely than anyone else.”

RELATED: Follow our full coronavirus coverage

RELATED: Source of virus outbreak linked to abattoir

In this photo, New York nurses put dead bodies onto refrigerated trucks. Experts suspect that America’s obesity problem is another factor in the country’s high death toll from coronavirus.

“The biggest risk factor for going to hospital for COVID-19 and having a worse outcome, ie death, is obesity,” Dr Turner said.

“That’s closely followed by high blood pressure and then diabetes. Obese people generally have all of those.

“There’s also a thing called ARDS – acute respiratory distress syndrome – and obese people have a higher chance of having this.”

The French study released last month found obese COVID-19 patients have more need for invasive mechanical ventilation as their BMI increases. More than twice the number of obese patients required intubation than those who didn’t.

The CDC published a similar report a day later, on April 10, finding that obesity was the most prevalent underlying condition in patients severely affected by coronavirus.

Put simply, the more overweight you are, the more at risk you are.

FEARS FOR A SECOND WAVE

Even if you’re not obese, these findings are a problem for everyone, Dr Turner warned.

“Reports have warned that America may suffer more due to its obesity epidemic,” he said.

“I’m totally expecting that America will have far worse outbreaks, much higher mortality rates than what they would have had if they didn’t have such an obese population.”

And the doctor expects the same to happen in Australia.

“(What’s) particularly concerning is where Australia sits,” Dr Turner said. “In 2020, Australia has an obesity rate of 29 per cent for a population of over 25 million.

“We are the 27th most obese country in the world. The USA is 12th, with over 36 per cent,” he said.

“Australia is quite fat.”

Countries like Italy and Spain have lower obesity rates and healthier Mediterranean-based diets, which is why Dr Turner thinks the world has been slow to identify it as an issue.

“But as the virus spread to nations like the USA, UK and Australia, ravaging New York and London, the results are getting clearer,” he said.

He fears Australia will be hit by a second wave of coronavirus once lockdown ends. And with our obese population, it will once again mean there aren’t enough beds to go around in hospitals.

“Winter has a far higher mortality rate anyway,” he said. “Australia will be getting hit with a couple of things at once.

“We’ll be hit by the next wave of this if we don’t pick it up soon.”

WHAT THE EXPERTS SUGGEST

“If you are overweight you have to be more careful,” Dr Turner said.

“The worst outcome (for having coronavirus) is being 75-80. But that is closely followed by being obese.”

He advised overweight Australians to be more careful about social distancing, and suggested that they use this time in lockdown to lose weight.

“Now is probably the time to be starting to take measures, starting to change your diet and lifestyle,” he said.

He acknowledged that it’s definitely harder to lose weight during lockdown, with less incidental exercise and less motivation. But it is extremely necessary, he said.

“You want to be as fighting fit as possible when you get the virus.”

Continue the conversation | @AlexTurnerCohen | [e-mail]