Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/juSmZ6Pf9LE   Markedly obese CoVid patients are nearly 3 times more likely than those with normal body masses to require ICU admission, go on a ventilator, or die.  An international collaborative team just published these results from their meta-analysis of 335,192 patients treated over the past 11 months.   The investigators suggest 3 explanations for this effect.  First of all,  excess body weight negatively alters a patient’s respiratory mechanics exacerbating the impact of viral lung damage.  Secondly, the additional body fat may serve as a CoVid reservoir as it does for other common human viruses.  Finally, obesity may drive underlying low-grade inflammation and immune suppression.   The severely obese must avoid contracting CoVid at all costs.   https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.11.27.20239616v1.full.pdf   #covid #obesity #ICU #ventilator