Obesity, and especially extreme obesity, has again been tied to a greatly increased death risk due to H1N1 influenza (commonly called the swine flu). The researchers found that those with obesity were more likely to die from the H1N1 flu than those with a healthy weight. People suffering from extreme obesity were at a much higher risk.
The study looked at flu related hospitalizations in a California medical facility during the H1N1 flu pandemic. 534 patients were studied and the researchers found that 51% of the hospitalized patients were obese. The medical definition of obesity is having a body mass index greater than 30. Nineteen percent of the patients who were hospitalized due to flu complications were were extremely obese, with a body mass index above 40.
Of the 92 patients who died, 61% were obese and 30% were extremely obese. Details of the study were posted recently in MedPage Today.
The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control show that the adult obesity rate in California (2009) is 24.8%. The national rate for extreme obesity is 5%. These facts show clearly that obesity greatly increase the risk for death due to H1N1 complications, and that the more severe the obesity the greater the potential risk.
The details listed in the study and report were strikingly similiar to those reported by this author in articles published in October and November of 2009. Those article can be read here:
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