WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - People living with obesity are 70 percent more likely to be hospitalized or die due to an infection, according to a new study. Researchers also found that around one in 10 infection-related deaths worldwide may be linked to obesity.
The study looked at health data from about 67,000 adults in Finland and more than 470,000 adults from the UK Biobank. Participants' body mass index (BMI) was recorded at the beginning, and they were tracked for an average of 13 to 14 years. The average starting age was 42 in the Finnish group and 57 in the UK group.
Researchers studied ten common infectious diseases and found that obesity increased the risk for most of them. These included flu, COVID-19, pneumonia, stomach infections (gastroenteritis), urinary tract infections, and lower respiratory infections. However, obesity did not seem to raise the risk of severe HIV or tuberculosis.
'As obesity rates are expected to rise globally, so will the number of deaths and hospitalisations from infectious diseases linked to obesity,' said study's first author Dr Solja Nyberg of the University of Helsinki.
'To reduce the risk of severe infections, as well as other health issues linked with obesity, there is an urgent need for policies that help people stay healthy and support weight-loss, such as access to affordable healthy food and opportunities for physical activity.'
The study, published in The Lancet, defined obesity as having a BMI of 30 or higher. It found that people with obesity had a 70 percent higher risk of being hospitalised or dying from an infectious disease compared to those with a healthy BMI between 18.5 and 24.9. The risk rose further as body weight increased.
'Our findings suggest that broad biological mechanisms may link obesity to a wide range of infectious diseases. Obesity may impair the immune system's ability to fight bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi, resulting in more severe illness. Evidence from trials of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs also supports that reducing obesity lowers the risk of severe infections, alongside other health benefits. However, further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms,' said lead author Professor Mika Kivimäki of University College London.
The impact also varied by country. In the UK, about one in six infection-related deaths were linked to obesity. In the US, the figure was about one in four. Vietnam had the lowest share, with obesity connected to just 1.2 percent of infection deaths.
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