The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms in a new study that 78 percent of COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized and/or died were either overweight or obese. CNBC reports:
Among 148,494 adults who received a Covid-19 diagnosis during an emergency department or inpatient visit at 238 U.S. hospitals from March to December, 71,491 were hospitalized. Of those who were admitted, 27.8% were overweight and 50.2% were obese, according to the CDC report. Overweight is defined as having a body mass index of 25 or more, while obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or more.
The agency found the risk for hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths was lowest among individuals with BMIs under 25. The risk of severe illness “sharply increased,” however, as BMIs rose, particularly among people 65 and older, the agency said.
This helps to confirm the long-held belief that the severity of COVID-19 cases was largely dependent on the underlying health conditions of those who were infected. Dan O'Donnell discussed this in-depth on Tuesday's show. Click on the player below to listen and be sure click here to subscribe to "The Dan O'Donnell Show" on iHeartRadio.