Obesity increases risk of H1N1 complications, study suggests
Reported November 05, 2009
As if there weren’t enough reasons to lose weight, a new study now suggests that obesity adds more risk to people that contract the H1N1 virus.
The study is the most comprehensive to date to take a look at hospitalizations due to H1N1 influence (a.k.a. the swine flu). It found that a full 25 percent of all hospitalizations for H1N1 complications were comprised of individuals that were morbidly obese.
The findings were alarming because morbidly obese people make up only five percent of the population. The only group at higher risk are pregnant women which was found to be at a sixfold higher risk of hospitalization.
So what if you aren’t morbidly obese? The study also showed that 58 percent of the hospitalizations were comprised of ‘merely’ obese individuals due to complications from the swine flu.
This study backs up observations made by the Center for Disease Control headquartered in Atlanta. In a published report on July 17, the CDC stated:
Clinicians should be aware of the potential for severe complications of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection, particularly in extremely obese patients.
The CDC’s study and findings were based on a limited number of patients with H1N1. The latest study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), looked at 1088 cases of hospitalization in California due to the swine flu.
The JAMA study also revealed that two thirds of the obese patients had underlying health risk factors that included of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Both of these conditions are known to often be a result of obesity.
Source : examiner.com