Obese men are at greater risk than obese women of developing severe COVID-19 with pneumonia, requiring intubation, and dying, according to a new American scientific study involving three scientists of Greek descent.
The researchers, led by Arselia Gerson-Jill at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, who published their findings in the European journal *Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases*, «European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases,» analyzed data on 3,530 hospitalized patients with coronavirus. The study included Leonidas Paleodimos and Damianos Kokkinidis of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, as well as Dimitris Karamanis of the University of Piraeus.
It was found that men, both those with moderate obesity (body mass index over 35) and those with severe obesity (BMI over 40), are at greater risk for severe COVID-19, while the same applies only to very obese women (with a BMI over 40).
The study also found that obese patients—particularly men and older adults—who died from COVID-19 had higher average levels of interleukin IL-6 (a cytokine that serves as a marker of systemic inflammation in the body) compared to those who were less severely ill. However, no clear association was found between IL-6 and obesity.
Consequently, according to the researchers, although inflammation may play a role in severe COVID-19 and death, it likely does not explain why obesity is such a significant risk factor, so other biological mechanisms may be at play in obese individuals, making them more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
