Obesity has been linked to a myriad of health issues, One other one to hitch the is vulnerability to COVID-19, as a latest study has found a causal link between the 2.

The study, published in American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, was led by scientists on the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease and Wellcome Sanger Institute, England.

Within the study, researchers found that immune cells in obese people showed a muted inflammatory response. This underactive immune response is being attributed to an increased risk of severe COVID infection.

“Obesity affects 40% of U.S. adults, is related to a proinflammatory state, and presents a major risk factor for the event of severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Thus far, there is proscribed information on how obesity might affect immune cell responses in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection,” the authors wrote within the paper.

In keeping with Earth.com, around 6.9 million people have died from COVID-19, and obesity has been considered a significant risk factor for severe infection. 

“Throughout the pandemic, nearly all of younger patients I saw on the COVID wards were obese. Given what we find out about obesity, should you’d asked me why this was the case, I’d have said that it was most certainly as a consequence of excessive inflammation. What we found was absolutely the opposite,” explained professor Menna Clatworthy, as per the outlet.

For the study, blood and lung samples of 13 obese patients with severe cases of COVID that required mechanical ventilation were collected. On evaluation of the activity of cells within the samples, it was found the obese patients had repressed immune and inflammatory responses of their lungs. 

“This was really surprising and unexpected,” said Clatworthy. “Across every cell type we checked out, we found that the genes answerable for the classical antiviral response were less energetic. They were completely muted.”

The findings of the study could lead on to improved treatment of COVID-19 in addition to higher designing of clinical trials to check latest treatments.

“What we’ve shown is that not all patients are the identical, so we would must tailor treatments,” said study co-author Dr. Conway Morris. “Obese subjects might need less anti-inflammatory treatments and potentially more help for his or her immune system.” 

In one other recent study, childhood obesity has been found to be related to an increased risk of 4 of the five newly proposed subtypes of adult-onset diabetes. “Childhood obesity appears to be a risk factor for essentially every kind of diabetes in adults, aside from mild age-related diabetes. This stresses the importance of stopping obesity in children,” the authors said.