Читать книгу FIGHT BACK - Chauncey W. Crandall - Страница 21

Obesity is a major factor for serious complications of COVID-19, no matter what age the person is.

A person whose body mass index, or BMI, is thirty or more is considered obese. BMI is based on a formula that divides a person’s weight in kilograms by their height in meters.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half (48.3 percent) of adults hospitalized in the United States with COVID-19 were obese and were also most likely to require intensive care or die. Although these figures were based on people age sixty-five and older, other studies have found this to be true for younger people as well.

Exactly why obesity raises risk is unknown, but one possible explanation is that abdominal obesity, the pattern found mostly in men, may compress the diaphragm, lungs, and chest area. This makes breathing more difficult, especially when these individuals are sick.