Obesity one of the reasons the UK death rate so high?

[Baileysforchristmas]

I know it’s the Daily fail and it’s not a brilliant article but I wonder if this one of the reasons our death rate is so high?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9282619/Obesity-link-UK-Covid-toll-Britains-status-sick-man-Europe-led-deaths.html

Isn’t it because it’s measured different here?

In the UK, if someone has a severe stroke and goes to hospital and dies if it, but also contracted Covid at hospital, the death will be down as a Covid death. In other countries it would not have counted as covid death. That whole thing where in the U.K. they measure “Death with covid” and in other countries “death of Covid”

@Sometimesonly

I think Brits are generally fairly good at following rules, far more so than Southern Europeans or the French (perhaps less so than Germany, Scandinavia etc), based on personal experience of living in various EU countries. I am in Italy and where I am the rules were (and are) followed very closely by everyone I know.

This is very anecdotal about who are rule followers and who are not. I don’t think we can say much about it either way right now since it’s largely based on individual perceptions.

In the Gulf country where I live, it seems to me that people aren’t following the rules and have big family gatherings, but COVID deaths haven’t been that high, maybe because of the climate, who knows?

We also have large class sizes compared to most of Europe and no masks in classes. That hasn't helped

France has got double the number of hospital beds and 3 times the number of ICU beds which has probably helped them.

Far too convenient to blame obesity which is a BMI of 30. Yet you need a BMI of 40 to be in category 6. Therefore the risk factor is more related to severe obesity. I think it starts at 34 but worse at 40.
I never forget when I needed surgery. I had all four risk factors but no it was all down to weight.

I also think our damp climate has a lot to do with it, particularly in this latest lockdown. Obesity and age are, of course, major players.

@SonnetForSpring

Overall health is important. The UK isn't known for prioritising health in general. Diet, sleep, exercise, toxins (alcohol, smoking, junk food, pollution) etc all matter.

This, plus the fact that our average life expectancy is higher than most places due to the NHS, so we have an older population. All adds to it.

Brilliant move by the DM. Let's blame fat people instead of the government and their woeful response to covid

@OhRosalind

I think Brits are generally fairly good at following rules, far more so than Southern Europeans or the French (perhaps less so than Germany, Scandinavia etc), based on personal experience of living in various EU countries. However, in Britain lots of rules have at various points been framed as advice, whereas in (culturally less rule-following countries) European countries rules were very strictly implemented through police checks, forms, fines etc.

I agree with the PP’s comments about preventative healthcare - this is also emphasised more in some European countries, where frequent check-ups, blood tests etc are normal rather than the British way of only seeking help once a problem is bad. That contributes to better health overall, and to a culture of seeking medical help quickly when ill, both of which could be factors.

Yes. Re your second para, a french woman I was speaking to said they get called for regular check ups and chased if they don't attend. That would catch things like hypertension, diabetes etc. earlier

I wanted to just quote your second para but it did the whole thing

There were probably more people in this country who caught covid with untreated hypertension and t2 diabetes than in countries where they are called for regular checkups.

@CoffeeBerry

Do we have an older population than the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand? All have a higher obesity rate

Early on it was confirmed that the level of obesity was a primary factor in NZ closing the border - the health service would have collapsed.

New Zealand's high level of obesity and aged population would have caused catastrophic covid mortality - and that's even before the horrifying possibility of it filtering out to the pacific islands.

If you are overweight and don't take enough physical exercise, then you are unlikely to agree with the responses. We are all, individually and personally, responsible for the state of our health. It's your body, not mine, and YOU have to look after it. It's the only one you get. Mine's ageing, and nothing can make it young again, but it gets put through dogwalking exercise 5x per week and Pilates x2.

Also, when we look at deaths, and often repeat that the UK is in the top three, we do record our Covid deaths accurately. When you look at excess deaths it is in the top 20 still, but not the worst!

www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-tracker

@BonnieDundee Yeah. Being blamed will surely make the fatties want to continue to follow the rules.....................

48% of people have put on weight in lockdowns due to comfort eating and drinking. My weight went up. It started going down again last September after i went back to my regular hair appointments.

looking and feeling like a scruffbag is not conducive to weight loss. If the behavioural scientists on Sage havent worked this out then they arent that great.

I don't think some countries are as honest about their Covid figures as we are.

If some members of the public are made to feel that we still arent good enough when we have done what has been asked of us,why would we continue to bother.

The reason the death rate is so high is because of government ineptitude. Obesity is a risk factor but nowhere near as big a risk as age.

The government actively chose not to protect people - including healthcare staff.
They awarded contracts to people who could not deliver.
They failed to provide adequate PPE to healthcare staff (and still don't offer ambulance staff adequate PPE.
They failed to lockdown and allowed Cheltenham et al to go ahead.
They failed to react to the 2016 warnings
They run the per capita hospital bed ration down to about the lowest in Europe
Despite being an island, they kept our borders open and contine to do so.

Let's not blame a few podgers.

[quote MercyBooth]@BonnieDundee Yeah. Being blamed will surely make the fatties want to continue to follow the rules.....................[/quote]
Nobody is blaming them. I'm overweight and I know it's not good for me, and I know the GP is right when she says "could do with losing a few kilos"
We can't argue with the fact that a respiratory illness is going to have a more serious effect on the already unhealthy.
Unfortunately, I've rediscovered my gran's Be-Ro cookbook and that's not helping.

Germany is both fatter and older than the UK, so it's not the only factor but definitely a contributing one

that's not the case. Germans are fat too but the level of obesity is nowhere near as bad as in the UK. easy to google.