Most Critically Ill Younger COVID Patients Obese

Seven out of 10 younger COVID patients who became critically ill were obese, a study suggests.

The study led by Peck Kyong-ran, the new chief of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency when she was at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, found that 99 or 69.7 percent of 142 critically ill COVID patients under 50 treated at general hospitals across the country between July and November last year were obese, with a BMI score of 25 or higher.

The BMI is is calculated by dividing body weight by height squared, so a man who is 170 cm tall and weighs 75 kg has a BMI of 25.

But 139 of the patients had also never been vaccinated or had gotten only a first shot.

The team analyzed 448 critically ill cases in all age groups who were treated in isolation wards. The study was published in the Korean Journal of Medicine in May.