Obesity emerges as risk factor in severe flu

Obesity emerges as risk factor in severe flu

www.reuters.com...

Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:36pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who are obese but otherwise healthy may be at special risk of severe complications and death from the new H1N1 swine flu virus, U.S. researchers reported on Friday.

They described the cases of 10 patients at a Michigan hospital who were so ill they had to be put on ventilators. Three died. Nine of the 10 were obese, seven were severely obese, including two of the three who died.

"What this suggests is that there can be severe complications associated with this virus infection, especially in severely obese patients," said CDC virus expert Dr. Tim Uyeki.

Dr. Lena Napolitano of the University of Michigan Medical Center and colleagues studied the cases of 10 patients admitted to the university's intensive care unit with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by infection with H1N1.

"Of the 10 patients, nine were obese (body mass index more than 30), including seven who were extremely obese (BMI more than 40)," they wrote in their report.

Their study was not designed to see if obesity or anything else poses a special risk factor for flu. But the researchers were surprised to see that seven of the 10 patients were extremely obese.

www.reuters.com...





It would appear that there is yet another fine reason for folks to maintain a healthy
lifestyle.

I encourage ALL of you to exercise regularly and eat healthy!

I especially fear the repercussions of this new finding for many of the people in my home state of Mississippi.

July 1, 2009 -- It's official, again. For the fifth year in a row, Mississippi is still the nation's heaviest state -- ground zero for obesity in the U.S.

That's according to a new report, F as in Fat 2009, issued today by the nonprofit Trust for America's Health in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The report shows that 32.5% of Mississippi adults are obese and 44.4% of kids 10-17 are overweight or obese.

www.webmd.com...

The obese and overweight are now just another group that will be made to get the swine flu shot or face consequences.

I have taken a few statistics courses, and if I remember 1 thing, it is that you have to test a large sample to make a conclusion.

10 people? 300 million Americans, that's stupid. And, they would have to study people from more than 1 health care facilitiy, those 10 may have had bad treatment from bad doctors in a bad facility.

Originally posted by BenIndaSun
I have taken a few statistics courses, and if I remember 1 thing, it is that you have to test a large sample to make a conclusion.

10 people? 300 million Americans, that's stupid. And, they would have to study people from more than 1 health care facilitiy, those 10 may have had bad treatment from bad doctors in a bad facility.

I do not dispute the fact that further more comprehensive study needs to be performed.

I don't see anywhere in the report that the CDC has made a definitive conclusion concerning this occurrence .

These are just some initial observations coming in from the front lines of the medical community.

I don't think that any of the information that I have presented within this thread could be construed as anything other than what it is.

Worthy of further investigation.

"The high prevalence of obesity in this case series is striking," the CDC's commentary accompany the report reads.

"Whether obesity is an independent risk factor for severe complications of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection is unknown.

Obesity has not been identified previously as a risk factor for severe complications of seasonal influenza."

www.reuters.com...

reply to post by Snisha


The CDC is not a scientific research group made of health care workers that simply state opinions. It is made of former health care workers that have gotten into the more lucrative career of health care politics.

A government committee called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is deciding what groups of people should get the vaccine. - newsday.com

Since this has been declared a public health emergency, they can mandate vaccines for whichever groups they want. They will be looking at small examples and decide the profile of the mandatees. So they may now add fat people.

I don't think anyone should be required to get the vaccine. I was just stating my opinion of what may happen because of what Reuters reported, not your post words.

Originally posted by BenIndaSun

I don't think anyone should be required to get the vaccine. I was just stating my opinion of what may happen because of what Reuters reported, not your post words.

Thanks for the "heads up" concerning the "Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices" I was not familiar with that particular entity.

I concur that the vaccine should not be mandatory.

I sure am glad that I have maintained a physically fit physique over the years as well as possessing a remarkably robust immune system!

Stay Healthy!

BenIndaSun

10 people? 300 million Americans, that's stupid.

I agree with this part of your post but do some research. Obese people generally have impaired immune systems. it would follow that swine flu, like all flu's and many other illnesses are more severe in the obese

The first study discovered leptin -- a hormone produced by fat cells that control how much food is eaten and how quickly energy is burned -- also supports white blood cell production, which in turn enhances immune function.

"This is a brand new role for leptin," Fraker said. "It appears that most obese people may be somewhat immunosuppressed. This finding shows us that the body's resistance to leptin plays a role in that, too."

The second study found corticosteroids produced naturally in the body do not suppress the immune system in the way prescription steroids -- such as inflammation-reducing prednisone -- do.

"With the pharmacological versions of steroids, you lose some immune function," Fraker said.

source

Of course obesity creates increased risk for flu symptoms.

Clinical obesity basically drags down your entire system; your metabolism slows, your heart rate slows, your blood pressure rises. All of these factors play into your disposition to fall victim to any illness. About the only health defects obesity won't increase your disposition to are those associated with malnutrition.

I certainly hope that they don't use this as a pretense to force vaccinations for obese individuals. Then they could treat age as a pretense (both young and old), followed by medical histories, etc.. until everyone is mandated for vaccination.

wow. i'm so surprised that fat people are unhealthy and die. (sarcasm)_

we should tax fat people just like they tax us smokers. (more sarcasm)

i'd rather smoke than be fat.

This is a monumental conspiracy! The NWO & Reptilians are trying to make fat people healthy (The reptilians prefer muscular humans for their diet). Do not fall for this, eat as much as possible or die!!