Fat people even more likely to be affected by COVID than previously thought

[pocketem]

UK government scientists are urgently investigating whether people living with obesity may be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, after emerging data from intensive care units suggested a stronger link than previously thought.

New data from the UK’s Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre, which has been presented to ministers and SAGE scientists, has found that the proportion of severely obese patients in ICUs is twice the proportion in the general population.

Ministers have become increasingly alarmed by data coming out of Britain’s intensive care units, with some members of the government suggesting obesity may end up being a factor in the UK’s higher death toll.

The UK is currently projected to have the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe. Around 1 in 4 UK adults are obese. In 2018, the WHO found that the UK had the third highest obesity rate in Europe, behind only Malta and Turkey.

More here:
www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/alexwickham/uk-scientists-coronavirus-obesity-link

@HollySideEyes so it's not as easy as just eating less!!

Biologically it is. I won't spell it out because I don't want to be patronising.

I don't hate anyone.

I'm overweight I'd agree its because I'm a bit greedy and lazy, red wine plus snacks of an evening don't help either.

Chris Whitty is good in this one

I think he got CV didn't he and because he is thin and BJ is fat presumably that is why BJ nearly died and CW was fine.

@Xenia funny how you won't respond to anyone's points.

Get a grip

So how do you explain the strokes happening to those in their 30s and 40s

Sticking the boot into overweight people isnt a magic spell It wont protect you.

I think he got CV didn't he and because he is thin and BJ is fat presumably that is why BJ nearly died and CW was fine

This is why we have peer reviewed research and don’t just ask a random off mumsnet.

bringin those tablets are horrendous , I can’t come off them just now (tried at the end of March , not a good idea) but they are bloody awful for side effects . I’ve lost weight somehow but have to watch every single mouthful - can’t eat much at all without gaining again . GP is phoning 4 weekly to get a weight and waist measurement ...
Plus they feel like diazepam so keep you very drowsy all day - last thing you want to do is a Joe Wicks workout !

Sounds awful @lesbihonest :-( I'm on amitriptyline and it's definitely affected my weight - I can also relate to the drowsiness, not as bad as mirtazapine from what I've read, but I spend a lot of time feeling like I've just stumbled off a long-haul flight! pulls face

Great work losing as much as you have so far, especially in such trying circumstances! Don't let the nastiness on this thread get you down.

Remind me of a question and I will answer it the next time I am on the thread.

Every doctor on mumsnet would agree the obesity epidemic and resultant diabetes is one of the biggest challenges to the NHS in a generation and most people in the UK accept that we have got the country into massive debt through CV19 and will have a slump and much less money for the NHS and everyone next year and big tax rises. It is a massive mess.

Thanks to the processed food industry, we live in an obesogenic environment and have done so since about the 80s. Many people are physiologically addicted to the cornucopia of instant, processed sugary foods now available and their gut biome is unfortunately tailored to this and it's very difficult to change.

When a good majority of the adults in your country are overweight or obese it's clearly not an individual issue. It would be more relevant to ask: how the hell is anyone managing to stay thin?? I do it, but it's a conscious effort rather than easy as I resist the temptations around me. Sometimes I fall off the wagon, get re-addicted to the taste and buzz of sugar and have to detox again and while 'just eat less and do more' is simple in theory it's hard, hard hard in practice to quit a drug, especially if your gut biome is maladapted as recent research suggests and screaming out for the bad stuff. Humans were never designed biologically for the sugary excesses we find around us today. This is why I don't think you can blame individuals.

The processed food and drink industry has a very powerful lobby and I would contend that it is firmly in its interests to keep the population addicted to sugar for profits. Think cigarette industry. The BBC has produced some very good documentaries on this in the past.

I knew the way this thread would go - getting back to the facts, obesity is an issue. It's there on the link to the video I mentioned, helpfully added by Xenia. It was also mentioned by Jenny Harries at a briefing about being an increasing cause of concern, 3 weeks ago.
All groups of people who are shown to be affected more by complications of Covid are being investigated. Obesity is significant.

It’s really complex and attacking people isn’t the answer.I suspect those who are fat are scared enough at the moment.

Whilst there is evidence that morbid obesity is associated with an increasingly severe Covid response, there are surprising benefits to being fat - it’s not all bad news.

Fat people are less likely to get dementia, for example. There are few conditions that impact so much on health and social care services in the U.K.
The impact of moderate obesity can be offset quite well by exercise- there is more than a smidgen of truth in the idea of fat but fit.

I suspect fat people generally know they are fat. They might underestimate how fat, but a punitive approach isn’t the answer. My guess is that many people have gained a few pounds during lockdown but many are also exercising more. Telling people repeatedly that they are dreadful because of a few rolls of fat is in nobody’s interest.

Sugar is the worst, I used to think nothing of eating a multipack of chocolate, which makes me feel sick now. Before anyone starts, I'm not saying everyone who is overweight binges like I used to, but I did get addicted to it. Even when I didn't really want it I just knew I had to eat it, since giving it up (aside from coconut sugar in my coffee) I feel so much better. It was bloody hard and I still love food, I'm eating more than ever but it's better choices. Some people do have conditions, medications and MH issues which lead to weight gain; but for some people we simply eat too much. I have a friend who is always crying about being overweight because she doesn't understand why as she doesn't feel she eats much, she eats loads and snacks mindlessly. Until acknowledging that though it's hard to change.

@Xenia

1. Do you believe that anorexic people should have to pay for treatment as it's their fault they got into it because they didn't eat enough?

1. Would you say to an anorexic person you just need to eat more?

there's no shortage of advice on dieting on MN. and most would work if followed. Eat less, and move a lot more. Simple stuff. But no magic bullets, Most fat people just eat too much.

@CherryPavlova not true, sugar and carbs have been shown to cause dementia !

Most fat people just eat too much

Not actually always true. Most fat people - who don't have some kind of medical condition - are often eating the wrong kind of foods.

I'm 2.5 stone overweight at least and I admit it worries me.
I feel breathless a lot.
Before lockdown I was losing weight & regularly going to the gym but now I've just been overeating & under exercising & put the weight back on. My bmi must be 29 at least.

I've started counting calories again & using my weights to exercise with which gets me out of breath but I worry I'll catch covid before I have chance to lose weight!!
I take lots of medication that slows me down & makes me really fatigued so obviously that doesn't help.
Plus I'm an nhs worker & we keep being given free pizza & chocolate by people which is lovely but not helping.

On the ward where I've been deployed there is literally one obese patient.
The others are mostly alcoholics, anorexics or cachexic cancer patients.
Alcoholics tend to be malnourished.

The anorexics cost the nhs as much as any obese person as they are under sections & each have up to 3 support workers with them at all times to stop them self harming. They stay in acute hospital for weeks being NG fed then return to an eating disorder unit.

Antibles excellent point. Since being slim is elusive to most people, what do slim people do and what do they not do?

A fat stomach (beer gut) used to be the preserve of your old uncle. Now my 21 year old work mate has one and so do 8 year old girls at DD’s ballet. 21 year olds in the 70s were tiny. Look at old TOTP footage eg Bolan, Bowie. Large people were outliers eg Roland from Grange Hill but are now the norm. What happened?

SophieB100 You mention that obesity is significant. Please can you post a link to a peer-reviewed research publication that shows a statistically significant association between COVID and obesity having controlled for all potential confounders in a reasonably sized study population?

@Xenia That God you're not a doctor.