Obesity and COVID-19
October 26, 2020
By Alexander Onopchenko, M.D.
Vice Chairman, Department of Surgery, Director, Division of General Surgery, AtlantiCare
In this day and age of sensationalism, it is often difficult to separate fact from fiction in helping people make decisions surrounding healthcare. There are several truths, however, that have been born out by dependable research that bare repeating.
Morbid obesity is a DISEASE. Like cancer and heart disease, it has genetic, physiological, psychological and environmental components.
It is not a matter of being weak willed or making a conscious decision to gain weight. It requires lifelong treatment for any chance of control and critically decreases both the quality and quantity of life in those patients that are afflicted by it if left untreated.
Unfortunately, less than 1 percent of patients suffering from this disease are obtaining appropriate and adequate treatment.
We are all familiar with the co morbidities (associated diseases) that are associated with morbid obesity. Diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, premature heart disease, gastro esophageal reflux disease, certain cancers, premature degeneration of joint and spine are all familiar and serious problems afflicting patients with morbid obesity.
Now, we must add a new risk of morbid obesity, COVID-19 infection.
In the journal Obesity, Research and Clinical Practice, researchers analyzed studies involving 403,535 COVID-19 patients.
They found that, compared to having a normal body mass index, obesity doubled the risk of becoming critically ill from COVID; almost quadrupled the risk of dying and increased the risk of needing respiratory support (like supplemental oxygen) by nearly 700 percent.
There are multiple reasons for these depressing statistics. Certainly the state of obesity can be viewed as an inflammatory condition and may help to intensify the response to the coronavirus.
Certainly, having the co morbidities listed above that are so frequently associated with morbid obesity are also responsible for these poor outcomes.
Regardless, if you are morbidly obese, you are at greater risk of contracting coronavirus and at greater risk of having more a more serious course of COVID 19 and more likely to die from the infection.
We also know that there is an effective treatment for morbid obesity and that is bariatric surgery as part of a comprehensive treatment program delivered with lifelong follow up in a Center of Excellence. If you have been contemplating bariatric surgery, the COVID-19 pandemic is one more reason that you need to avail yourself of this life promoting treatment.
At AtlantiCare we have been performing bariatric surgery as part of such a center since March of 2002. Since restarting time sensitive surgeries such as bariatric surgeries, we have instituted COVID 19 testing for all of our prospective patients together with isolation strategies to protect our surgical patients from contracting COVID-19.
If you suffer with morbid obesity, don’t wait for any of these comorbidities, including contracting COVID-19 to shorten your life.
View our informational webinar and get started with our program, TODAY! Your life depends on it.
