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In January, Mississippi health authorities planned to ship the covid-19 vaccine, so they evaluated the state’s most vulnerable health care workers and, of course, the elderly in nursing homes. However, among those in need of urgent protection from the virus that spreads throughout Magnolia, there were one million obese Mississippi.
Obesity and weight-related illnesses were a deadly responsibility in the covid era. Report released this month According to the World Federation of Obesity, weight gain is the second largest predictor of covid-related hospitalization and mortality worldwide and continues as a risk factor only in old age.
As a living fixture in the southern United States, where nine of the twelve heaviest states in the United States are located, obesity plays a role not only in vivid results, but also in the calculation of vaccination deployments. Mississippi was one of the first states to add more than 30 body mass indexes (Rough gauge of obesity On the list of eligible medical conditions for shots (associated with height and weight). According to federal health survey data, about 40% of adults in the state meet that definition, and when combined with risk groups already vaccinated (residents aged 65 and over), half of the adults in Mississippi are limited. You have the right to dispute the allocation of. shot.
at least 29 states According to KFF, it sheds light on obesity for inclusion in the first stages of vaccine deployment. This is a significant expansion of eligibility that can overwhelm government efforts and intensify competition for rare doses.
“We have life-saving interventions, but that’s not enough,” said Jenkates, head of global health and HIV policy at KFF. “There are difficult choices about who should go first and there is no right answer.”
The complete epidemic of obesity in the country, with two in three Americans exceeding what is considered a healthy weight, has been a public health concern long before the pandemic. However, covid-19 has dramatically accelerated the debate, from warnings about the long-term damage that excess adipose tissue can cause to heart, lungs, and metabolic function, to much more pressing threats.
For example, in the United Kingdom, overweight covid patients are 67% more likely to require intensive care, and obese patients are three times more likely to be listed in the World Obesity Federation report. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published Monday found similar trends among patients in the United States, noting that along with their obesity levels, the risk of covid-related hospitalization, ventilation, and death increased. did.
The counties that embrace the southern Mississippi River are some of the most concentrated. Extreme obesity pocket In the United States. Coronavirus infections began to surge in southern states early last summer. Hospitalization increased gradually..
Rural deaths in the Mississippi River, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas are overshadowed by the huge number of deaths in metropolitan areas such as New York City in Los Angeles and Essex County in New Jersey. However, as part of the population, the coronavirus was equally generous in many southern communities. In the sparsely populated Claiborne County, Mississippi River, on the floodplain of the Mississippi River, 30 inhabitants (about 1 in 300) had died in early March. In the East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, north of Baton Rouge, 106 people have died and one in 180 has died by then.
“It’s just math. If the population is more obese and obesity contributes to apparently worse results, the more obese neighborhoods, cities, states and countries will make greater sacrifices from covid,” he said. Professor James de Remos said.Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas Study of inpatient covid patients It was published in the medical journal Circulation.
“It’s a triple whammy,” said Delemos, because in the United States, obesity rates are relatively high among poor African Americans and Latino Americans, and access to health care is diminished. “All these things intersect.”
In the South, where residents like Michelle Antonysin, a former registered nurse and seven mothers in Salem, Arkansas, are afraid of the virus, poverty and restricted access to health care are common features. Antony Singh, 49, is not hypertensive or diabetic, but has obesity and debilitating pain in her knees and back. Two fundamental conditions The federal health authorities’ decision is an additional risk factor for severe cases of covid-19.
Still, she said, “I was very worried just because I knew that being obese increased the risk of adverse consequences such as wearing a ventilator and dying.” It was. As a precautionary measure, Antony Singh said she and her big chicks locked down early and instead stopped attending church services directly online.
“It’s not the same as having fellowship, but the risk was good enough for me,” Antony Singh said.
The Governor of the South recognizes that weight can contribute to the complications of covid-19 and appears to be pushing for vaccination eligibility rules that prioritize obesity. However, in the field, local health officials are hesitant to tell newly qualified people who are considered obese that they do not have enough shots to go around.
In Port Gibson, Mississippi, Dr. Heja Williams, medical director at the Claiborne County Family Health Center, is barely receiving enough doses to inoculate 9,600 county health workers and the oldest elderly. .. During the week of early February, she received 100 doses.
Obesity and extreme obesity are widespread in Claiborne County, and health officials have registered that “normalization” of obesity is a risk factor for people, whether obesity or other health problems. It says it means not. The risk is exacerbated by the general dissatisfaction with pandemic etiquette. Williams said middle-aged and young residents were not particularly wary of physical distance and the use of masks was rare.
The increase in obesity in the United States has been well documented over the last half century, and the country is rich in ultra-processed foods, rich in salt, fat, sugar and flavors, from a diet of fruits, vegetables and limited meats. It changed to a nice meal. With lots of meat, fast food and soda. The United States generally leads the global obesity race, setting records that toddlers and even toddlers are incredibly overweight.
The National Institutes of Health promoted heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, colon cancer, and other cancers in 1998, before claiming that obesity was the leading cause of preventable death. Declared to be ill.
Researchers say it’s no coincidence that countries with relatively high obesity rates, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy, have proven to be particularly vulnerable to the new coronavirus.
They believe in viruses May exploit underlying metabolic and physiological disorders It often exists in concert with obesity. Excess fat can lead to a cascade of metabolic disorders, chronic systemic inflammation, and hormonal dysregulation, which can interfere with the body’s response to infection.
Other respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS that emerged in China in 2002 Depends on cholesterol To spread the enveloped RNA virus to adjacent cells, researchers suggested that a similar mechanism could play a role in the spread of the novel coronavirus.
There are also practical problems for obese coronavirus patients admitted to the hospital. Intubation can be more difficult due to the excessive centroid weight that pushes down the diaphragm, making breathing in the infected lung even more difficult.
Doctors specializing in the treatment of obese patients say public health officials need to send a more frank and urgent message to telegram the risks of this chaotic era.
“It must be explicit and direct,” said Dr. Fatima Stanford, an obesity medicine expert at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
Stanford University condemns the fat shame and bullying that obese people often experience. However, she said it was important to inform patients and the general public that obesity increases the risk of hospitalization and death.
“I don’t think it’s stigmatized,” she said. “If you tell them that way, it’s not scaring you, it’s just giving information. Sometimes people just don’t realize it.”
