A constellation of physiological and social factors drives those grim numbers. And because obesity is so stigmatized, people with obesity may avoid medical care.

Share your results. Current thinking is that BMI is an insufficient measure of a person's cardiovascular risk since it fails to take into account a person's muscle mass and overall cardiorespiratory fitness. The BMI calculation divides an adult's weight in kilograms by their height in metres squared.

People with obesity are more likely than normal-weight people to have other diseases that are independent risk factors for severe COVID, including heart disease, lung disease, and diabetes.

They are also prone to metabolic syndrome, in which blood sugar levels, fat levels, or both are unhealthy and blood pressure may be high. A recent study from Tulane University of hospitalized COVID patients found that metabolic syndrome itself substantially increased the risks of ICU admission, ventilation, and death. The largest descriptive study yet of hospitalized U.

Published last month in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it found that although the rate peaked in people with a BMI of 35 or greater, it began to rise as soon as someone tipped into the overweight category. The physical pathologies that render people with obesity vulnerable to severe COVID begin with mechanics: Fat in the abdomen pushes up on the diaphragm, causing that large muscle, which lies below the chest cavity, to impinge on the lungs and restrict airflow.

This reduced lung volume leads to collapse of airways in the lower lobes of the lungs, where more blood arrives for oxygenation than in the upper lobes. Other issues compound these mechanical problems. For starters, the blood of people with obesity has an increased tendency to clot—an especially grave risk during an infection that, when severe, independently peppers the small vessels of the lungs with clots.

Add obesity to the mix, and the clotting risk shoots up. Immunity also weakens in people with obesity, in part because fat cells infiltrate the organs where immune cells are produced and stored, such as the spleen, bone marrow, and thymus, says Catherine Andersen, a nutritional scientist at Fairfield University. The problem is not only fewer immune cells, but less effective ones, adds Melinda Beck, a co-author of the  Obesity Reviews  metaanalysis who studies obesity and immunity at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Height: Inches Weight: Pounds. This indicates a lean BMI, which means you have a low amount of body fat. If you are an athlete, this can be desirable.

If you are not an athlete, a lean BMI can indicate that your weight may be too low, which may lower your immunity. If your BMI and body weight are low, you should consider gaining weight through good diet and exercise habits, to increase your muscle mass.

This indicates the ideal, healthy amount of body fat, which is associated with living longest, and the lowest incidence of serious illness. Coincidentally, it seems this ratio is what many individuals perceive to be the most aesthetically attractive. You are considered overweight and should finds ways to lower your weight, through diet and exercise.

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