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

Wouldnt it be amazing if this led to more funding and support for those suffering morbid obesity and struggling to change it.

yes the government could blame the people for being fat but the people can also point at the government and say
'why do you allow fast food manufacturers to invade our diets'
'why don't you make proper and better provision for enjoyable exercise'
'why is nothing done to tackle areas of deprivation and dysfunction where people are more likely to develop disordered eating patterns and other behaviours which are harmful to health'
etc

Psychological help, dealing with childhood trauma and help to deal with changing eating patterns without dieting would be great. Especially given all the changes that your body goes theough once its morbidly obese, its not as simple as eating less. Exercises that are adaptable for larger people. Current recogery rate for morbid ibesity outside surgery is ridiculously low. It would be amazing if that was focused on

Here's the actual figure from the survey. The blue bars show what proportion of ICU patients are in each BMI category, and the orange line shows what proportion of the general population is in each category. You can see that until you get to BMI 40+ the patients' weight makes little difference to how likely they are to be in ICU.

Compare that to the second figure which shows the same, but for deprivation rather than BMI category (the category for 'deprivation' is based on the postcode where the patients live). There's clearly a stronger trend for people in deprived areas to get more sick than for obese people to get more sick, except when they are very obese.

You mustn't say things like this. Then people can't blame Boris for the death toll

They can. The media are already starting to talk about how poor people are worse affected whereas all the horrid rich tory voters are fine in their big houses with expensive food.

Its a no brainer that people with bad diets and health issues due to diet will suffer more during flu/pandemics.

It's not expensive to be healthy, just takes effort. Give up smoking, don't drink much, exercise, eat apples instead of crisps. Effort, not cost.

It’s not the numbers on your tape measure, scales or BMI chart that count ultimately. It’s the numbers that come back from your blood results. Body size is a proxy for metabolic health, but it’s a very imperfect correlation. 20% of obese people can be metabolically healthy (mechanism not really understood) and 40% of healthy weight people are metabolically unhealthy (TOFIs - thin on the outside but fat inside... it’s all hidden deep around their abdominal organs).

People being fat is not the government's fault. At some point people are going to have to start accepting responsibility for themselves.

No one said losing weight is easy, it takes effort. It is not expensive. If you're living off £1 chicken nuggets and potato smilies then just eat less of them, added bonus - that packet now lasts longer. Move more. Discipline, not motivation.

Not a huge surprise that the unhealthiest section of society is disproportionately affected by an illness, but interesting to see it confirmed.

The media are already starting to talk about how poor people are worse affected whereas all the horrid rich tory voters are fine in their big houses with expensive food.

And yet they miss the point that if they were to eat too much expensive food and take very little exercise, they too would be overweight.

It's as though personal responsibility has been completely replaced by 'blame the government'.

@Sudokubook see the graphs - it isn't the case that your risk is much higher with 'normal' obesity, that is people misinterpreting the survey results (or in the case of some news media, deliberately twisting them). But of course, as you say, there are other serious health problems associated with obesity that have nothing to do with COVID-19, so if this is a wake up call for you to get down to a healthy weight then that's great

people who are larger need and deserve help to find forms of exercise that will work for them.

It’s not the numbers on your tape measure, scales or BMI chart that count ultimately

Maybe not, but all of those are a good place to start. Who is going to be offered blood tests to check their metabolic health?!

I agree that people need to take responsibility for their own health and not blame the government for the existence of junk food, though.

people who are larger need and deserve help to find forms of exercise that will work for them

Walking?

People being fat is not the government's fault
With this statement you are putting things in very black and white terms, in my view this is counterproductive since we are looking at at a condition which is complex and multifactorial.

in my view this is counterproductive since we are looking at at a condition which is complex and multifactorial

I think sometimes we over complicate diet and exercise.

I agree walking is good exercise and some people do seem to be just extremely lazy, averse to any kind of exertion whatsoever.
This is anathema to me since I am very focused on health and exercise, I do try to understand that others have very different mindsets priorities and values.

Well it serves them right doesn't it? Not only are they disgusting to look at and obviously lazy and greedy and selfish, they're more likely to be seriously ill with COVID. That'll learn 'em.

Is the abiding themes of these threads.

people who are larger need and deserve help to find forms of exercise that will work for them.

I've lost 3 stone by walking and reducing food intake. None of that has cost more than previously (except for a couple of pairs of cheap walking shoes and a few pairs of socks).

Trouble is that people want gimmicky/fancy solutions - walking and eating less is boring and that's not what people want.

people who are larger need and deserve help to find forms of exercise that will work for them.

They have the entire internet at their fingertips.

People being fat is not the government's fault. At some point people are going to have to start accepting responsibility for themselves.

I could not agree more, but I give it 5 minutes before this thread is deleted for being "fat-shaming"....

And anorexics should eat more, and those with psychosis should just ignore the voices and thise with depression should just cheer up right?

If it was simple there wouldn't be so many people struggling with these conditions. It would be amazing for more support to be in place for those who are trying and cant manage it. Like many conditions above I think it can be hard to understand if you haven't been there or worked in that world.

2ourof3 exactly. Can you imagine that form of disdain for many other conditions? Broke a leg, that will teach em....

Well it serves them right doesn't it? Not only are they disgusting to look at and obviously lazy and greedy and selfish, they're more likely to be seriously ill with COVID. That'll learn 'em.

Is the abiding themes of these threads.

Well it wasn't but there's always one...

@psychomath thank you. I have done 600 cals plus exercise today already. I wish I could lose it faster but life throws you difficult balls occasionally (for me it is having a severely disabled son) some people cope with smoking or drink but for me it was food...I'm just going to keep on going

Sadly the government’s in cahoots with the food industry, which is a huge part of the economy/GDP. Small niche business owners might be able to make a steady comfortable living from organic vegetable schemes and heritage breed butchery, but all the big £££ billions are to be made from “value added” food aka processed/refined. That’s what turns the profit for shareholders of food manufacturers, supermarkets and chain restaurants and adds to the national balance sheet. Sadly that’s never reckoned against the huge cost to the NHS and lost productivity in the labour market due to sick days and diminished performance due to diet related morbidity. And the human tragedy and suffering behind each of those numbers :(