High BMI in upper teens a risk for severe COVID-19: Study

Mar 15, 2022

New Delhi, Mar 15 (ANI): A new study led by the University of Gothenburg has found that men with a high body mass index (BMI) in their upper teens have an elevated risk of severe COVID-19 and can require hospitalisation later in life. The study was published in the journal, 'Obesity'. The study included data from the Swedish Military Service Conscription Register on 1,551,670 men in Sweden, born between 1950 and 1987, who were conscripted for military service in the period 1969-2005. At the outset, their height and weight were measured. Merging the conscription data with three Swedish medical registered - the National Patient Register, the Intensive Care Register and the Cause of Death Register -revealed a clear connection between BMI in adolescence and the risk of getting COVID-19, many years later, severely enough to require hospitalization. Even clearer was the link between BMI in the upper teens and needing intensive care for the disease. For the study, the scientists divided the men into six groups, from underweight (BMI 15-18.5) to three levels of normal weight (18.5-20, 20-22.5, and 22.5-25), followed by overweight (25-30) and obesity (BMI of 30 or more). Out of the whole group during the study year (2020), 4,315 men with COVID-19 required hospitalization; 729 of them received intensive care and 224 died from COVID-19.