The Apple-Shaped Body Connection: COVID-19 Mortality Risk Explored

Individuals exhibiting abdominal obesity, referred to as an apple-shaped body, are at an elevated risk of COVID-19 related mortality, according to a study.

The study by researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) revealed //that carrying excess belly fat is related to greater inflammation and mortality in COVID patients.

Study on Abdominal Obesity and Fatal Outcomes

Some patients with COVID experience a dangerous event called "cytokine storm," which involves severe inflammation that dramatically affects breathing and leads to death. Although it is impossible to predict which patients will undergo this event, conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, and obesity are known risk factors.

Malnutrition to Obesity - The Big Leap
Obesity is the root cause of problems like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis and gall bladder disease. A serious look at our strategies is needed to tackle this fast growing epidemic.

‘Research suggests that people with excess abdominal obesity, denoted as an apple-shaped body, have a higher susceptibility to fatal outcomes from COVID-19. # Abdominal Obesity, #Apple-Shaped Body, #COVID-19 ’

Tweet it Now

"While treating patients with COVID-19, we noticed that obese patients with predominantly abdominal fat tended to experience more severe disease courses and worse outcomes," said one of the lead authors Tadashi Hosoya from the varsity.

"Therefore, we hypothesized that the accumulation of visceral adipose tissue fueled systemic inflammatory responses in COVID-19 and could be a marker for identifying high-risk patients," Hosoya said in the paper published last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

To test this, the researchers used two types of obese mice: ob/ob mice, which are susceptible to putting on abdominal fat, and db/db mice, which put on fat all over. Leptin signaling, which regulates appetite, is impaired in both types of mice, leading them to become obese from overeating.

Carbohydrates and Its Role in Obesity
Over 1 billion people world-wide are obese thus affecting their health due to their nutrition and lifestyle. 3.9% of India’s population is obese! Know more about obesity and its prevention.

These two types of obese mice and non-obese control mice were then infected with mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2, and the researchers monitored the mice for outcomes such as inflammation, lung injury, and death.

Understanding the Abdominal Obesity's Toll

"The results were very striking," explained Shinsuke Yasuda, senior author. "The ob/ob mice all died after infection with SARS-CoV-2, while most of the non-obese control mice and even the obese db/db mice survived"

They noted that ob/ob mice produced more pro-inflammatory factors than db/db mice. Importantly, blocking one, in particular, interleukin-6 (IL-6), partially but significantly improved survival rates in these obese mice.

Obesity - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Complications, Treatment
Obesity is a condition where there is excess accumulation of body fat which poses a risk to the health of the individual. It can affect children and adults.

Of note, "lean" ob/ob mice can be generated by giving them a preventive leptin supplement, and they survived SARS-CoV-2 infection more often than their obese counterparts. However, giving the leptin supplement after the mice had already become obese did not help them survive the infection.

"Our findings suggest that excessive adipose tissue is related to activation of cytokine storm and delayed elimination of SARS-CoV-2, thus predicting mortality," said lead author Seiya Oba, from the varsity.

Being overweight contributed more significantly to COVID mortality in Asian populations than in White populations. This could be explained by apple-shaped obesity being more common in Asian populations, the researchers said.

Source-IANS