Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Major Study Finds Obesity Significantly Increases Risk Of Dying From Covid
About 78% of people who were hospitalized, placed on a ventilator or died from COVID-19 were overweight or obese, a new report from the CDC shows. The findings show risk of severe COVID-19 illness rises sharply with elevated body mass index, especially for people younger than 65. (Fernandez, 3/9)
Over the past year, many scientific teams around the world have reported that obese people who contract the coronavirus are especially likely to become dangerously ill. Now, a large new study, of nearly 150,000 adults at more than 200 hospitals across the United States, paints a more detailed picture of the connection between weight and Covid-19 outcomes. (Anthes, 3/8)
Intellectual disability is second only to old age as a risk factor for COVID-19 death, and obesity is linked to coronavirus-related hospitalization and death, two new studies find. The first study, led by researchers from Jefferson Health in Philadelphia and published late last week as a commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst, involved analyzing the medical records of 558,672 US COVID-19 patients from January 2019 to November 2020. (Van Beusekom, 3/8)
In other research updates about the coronavirus —
Many people who experience long-term symptoms from the coronavirus did not feel sick at all when they were initially infected, according to a new study that adds compelling information to the increasingly important issue of the lasting health impact of Covid-19. The study, one of the first to focus exclusively on people who never needed to be hospitalized when they were infected, analyzed electronic medical records of 1,407 people in California who tested positive for the coronavirus. More than 60 days after their infection, 27 percent, or 382 people, were struggling with post-Covid symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, cough or abdominal pain. (Belluck, 3/8)
By performing genome-wide functional genetic screens, researchers in Belgium have identified host factors that are required for SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as others that are shared by various coronaviruses. These factors could be used to develop drugs to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection or even outbreaks of future zoonotic coronaviruses. In a study published on Monday in Nature Genetics, researchers at KU Leuven described their use of genetic screens of SARS-CoV-2 and human coronavirus (HCoV) 229E, which can cause mild upper respiratory illnesses. These screens uncovered virus-specific as well as shared host factors, including TMEM41B and PI3K type 3. The researchers also found that SARS-CoV-2 requires the lysosomal protein TMEM106B to infect human cell lines and primary lung cells. (Rizk, 3/8)
