Rising rates of obesity leave small portion of the US at low risk of contracting coronavirus 

Americans may be too diseased to return to work after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic has passed because they are the most vulnerable.

The US is already facing huge burdens on its healthcare system with rising rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions. 

More than 60 percent of adults in the country have at least one underlying health condition, according to Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

All of these health issues increase the risk of infection of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and worse: death. 

With more than 151,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the US and more than 2,700 deaths, health experts fear that both of these numbers will rise exponentially because few are truly at low risk of becoming infected.

Studies have shown that chronic health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure can increase your risk of infection and death (file image)

Obese people who become infected with the flu are not only at a greater risk of severe complications but remain contagious longer. Pictured: A patient is taken to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York, March 30

Obese people who become infected with the flu are not only at a greater risk of severe complications but remain contagious longer. Pictured: A patient is taken to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York, March 30

Data out of China has shown that mortality rates are higher in patients with underlying conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Pictured: A medical worker stands with a body on a hospital gurney as it is moved to be temporarily stored in a mobile morgue outside of the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York, March 30

Data out of China has shown that mortality rates are higher in patients with underlying conditions such as cardiovascular disease. Pictured: A medical worker stands with a body on a hospital gurney as it is moved to be temporarily stored in a mobile morgue outside of the Brooklyn Hospital Center in Brooklyn, New York, March 30

Experts suggest that obesity may put the US at risk of of a pandemic similar to that seen in 1918 with the Spanish flu.

According to the CDC, 42.4 percent of the US adult population is obese and 18.5 percent of American children are.  

Obesity is known as a risk factor for several chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes, strokes, heart attack and even certain types of cancer.  

Experts have warned that the proportion of obese adults will only grow as younger generations do.

Rising rates of obesity will not only raise healthcare cost but could spur the coronavirus pandemic, or future pandemics.

A study of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, found that obese people were twice as likely to be hospitalized compared with the state population.

This means that obese people diagnosed with COVID-19 could put an even further strain on already overwhelmed hospitals. 

Additionally, a recent study from the University of Michigan School of Public Health found that obese adults who become infected with the flu are not only at a greater risk of severe complications, but remain contagious longer. 

This means that obesity is tied to an increased risk of flu transmission. With 75 percent of US adults predicted to be overweight or obese by 2030, this could result in a loss of thousands more more lives to the flu, or the coronavirus.

Although it is unclear why obese adults are more contagious, scientists believe it may be that that obesity changes the body’s immune response and leads to chronic inflammation. 

What’s more, a study this month out of China found that coronavirus patients with underlying conditions had higher mortality rates.

Researchers found morality rates were 10.5 percent for those with cardiovascular disease, 7.3 percent for diabetes, 6.3 percent for chronic respiratory disease, six percent for hypertension, and 5.6 percent for cancer.

A study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that only 12 percent of Americans over age 20 are considered ‘metabolically healthy.’

This population has ‘optimal’ waist measurements, glucose levels, blood pressure and cholesterol without having to take medication. 

Meanwhile, 80 million people in the US (one in every three) suffering from high blood pressure, 100 million live with diabetes or pre-diabetes, and 102 million have high cholesterol levels – and many have some combination of the three.

This means that only a small percentage of the population that can truly be considered low risk.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk