Nearly 90 percent of coronavirus deaths occurred in countries with high levels of obesity, according to the researchers – who now want overweight people to be prioritized for vaccination.
Mortality rates were 10 times higher in countries like the United States, where at least 50% of the total population is overweight, according to a study supported by the World Health Organization released on Thursday by the World Obesity Federation.
“[This] it should act as a wake-up call for governments around the world, ”said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to the Financial Times. “The correlation between COVID-19’s obesity and mortality rates is clear and compelling.”
Weight is now believed to be the second biggest indicator of serious illnesses caused by the virus after age, according to the study, which represents medical professionals in 50 regional and national obesity associations.
For the report, the researchers examined mortality data from Johns Hopkins University and data from the WHO Global Health Observatory that showed a total of 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths worldwide occurred in countries with high levels of obesity.
The researchers found no example of high mortality rates from COVID-19 in countries where less than 40 percent of the population was overweight, according to the report.
For example, Vietnam has the lowest coronavirus mortality rate in the world and the second lowest level of overweight people, with only 0.04 deaths per 100,000 COVID-19 with 18.3 percent overweight adults, according to WHO data.
In contrast, the UK has the third highest COVID-19 mortality rate in the world and the fourth highest obesity rate, with 184 deaths per 100,000 and 63.7% of overweight adults.
The US saw about 152 deaths from COVID-19 per 100,000 and has an obesity rate of 68%.
Tim Lobstein, senior policy advisor at WOF and author of the report, called the increase in national obesity-related death rates “dramatic”.
Meanwhile, according to a study released last month, Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine may be less effective in protecting obese people.
Researchers in Rome found that obese people who received two doses of the vaccine generated a weaker antibody response, according to a report by the prepress server Medrxiv.
The study, which was not peer-reviewed, evaluated the effect of the vaccine on 248 health professionals seven days after the final dose, the Guardian reported.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute Regina Elena found that those considered obese – defined as having a body mass index above 30 – produced about half the amount of antibodies compared to people who had a healthy body weight, the Guardian reported.
Currently, it is not known what level of antibodies is needed to neutralize the virus, but experts fear that a reduced antibody response could hinder inoculation efforts.