Obesity puts persons at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 – Health Minister

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony on Friday cautioned that obesity is a contributing factor that places people at higher risk when they contract COVID-19, since it is regarded a comorbid condition.

For World Obesity Day, attention was drawn to the complications which can arise if a person is suffering from obesity. Not only does it prove devastating if they contract the virus, but it also brings about other diseases. In Guyana, there is a link to developing non-communicable diseases.
“With COVID-19, we have also seen that persons who are obese would be at a higher risk for COVID-19. We have seen that in the global statistics and locally as well. There’s an increased risk if you’re obese…You’re more than likely have the comorbidities that we talk about and so because of these, we’ve been seeing people having a more severe form of COVID. A lot of them require hospitalisation and in some cases, when they’re hospitalised, they would also end up in the ICU.”
“It could increase a person’s risk of dying early, and it’s a contributor to a number of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, dyslipidaemia, diabetes and in Guyana, we have a lot of persons that suffer from non-communicable diseases. Therefore, obesity is a risk factor for many of these diseases,” Dr Anthony revealed.
For a person to determine whether they are obese, a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculation can be done. Body mass index is a value derived from a person’s weight in kilograms divided by their height in squared kilometres. A BMI of more than 30kg/m2 is overweight, while greater than 40kg/m2 is severely obese.
“Using this parameter, one can calculate where you fall in this spectrum. There are some nuances with this because there are people who are shorter and would have some more weight. Therefore, in some instances, it is also recommended that in addition to BMI, that you also do a waist to height ratio, to be able to see how that is contributing as well,” the Minister advised.
Persons within the 20 to 25kg/m2 are considered to be low-risk for diseases. Between 25 and 29kg/m2, without any known disease in sight, a person can also be considered low-risk but a medical condition puts them at moderate risk.
“Depending on where you fall in this spectrum, there are different things that can be recommended of how to prevent or reduce this. One of the main goals people would set is to have weight loss but if you just do diet alone, that will help to bring down your weight by between five to seven per cent. If you do a combination of diet and exercise, you’ll probably be able to get it down to 10 per cent. It depends in the categories that you fall in,” he added.
Based on the level of obesity of a patient, a number of interventions can be undertaken. At clinics, guidance and counselling on the various comorbidities are provided. Dietary help is available under another department of the Health Ministry.
“We have a number of guidelines that we have developed and we have been training people at a number of health centres to be able to provide this type of guidance. We have printed material, video material and in some instance, the team from the Ministry would go to specific areas and they would do demonstrations on how to cook these types of meals.”