Report: The Impact of Obesity on COVID-19 Outcomes of Hospitalizations and Mortality

by Xcenda

Poor access to treatment contributes to high obesity rates in the US, and patients with obesity are likelier to experience worse outcomes if infected with COVID-19 and potentially future pandemics as well. Xcenda built a model showing that decreasing the rate of obesity can lessen the risk of severe COVID-19. We found that if the prevalence of obesity were reduced by even just 5% at the start of the pandemic, there would have been almost 5,000 fewer deaths in the US by late October. If the prevalence of obesity were reduced by 25%, we could have had nearly 24,000 fewer COVID-19 deaths.