Obesity big Covid risk factor for children and young adults

  As the current wave of Covid-19 swept many children and young adults in its fold along with their family members, it was revealed that the majority of those who needed ICU care and prolonged hospitalization had one factor in common – obesity or high body mass index.


Dr Ankit Mehta, paediatric intensive care specialist at Zydus Hospital, said that a good 50% of the children treated in ICU during second surge of Covid-19 at the facility were overweight or obese. “We have treated 45 children for Covid in ICU and half of them were obese. This is a serious indicator of obesity being a significant risk factor for Covid in children,” said Dr Mehta.

He said that in obese children, Covid-19 disease was seen as it recorded in adults. “The children had lung involvement with CT scores ranging from 6-18, one girl even had 100% lung involvement. They had to be treated as adults with Remdesivir, steroids and anticoagulants,” said Dr Mehta.

Dr Pushkar Shrivastava, a paediatrician with Apollo Hospitals, said that while paediatric population doesn’t have other comorbidities associated commonly with adults, overweight kids and young adults do carry higher risk of Covid complications. “Severity has remained very low, but we do see complications such as multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) among kids and teenagers who recover from Covid,” he said, adding that it gets manifested with red eye, red lips, red tongue, swelling in the neck, etc. which requires hospitalization.

Dr Nishchal Bhatt, a city-based paediatrician, said he recently got three children admitted, and all of them were overweight. “Several kids gained weight during pandemic months with decreased physical activities and increased screen time. They must be encouraged for light exercises which can be done at home,” he said.

“The impact of Covid would be almost same in a 75 kg teenager and a 75 kg adult. We have seen rapid weight gains in the past few months, which is alarming in itself. Majority of the kids and young adults don’t require major medical attention, but due to high infectivity of Covid this time around, it’s always better to be on guard and consult a doctor if the child shows any symptoms associated with Covid,” said Dr Chetan Trivedi, an Ahmedabad paediatrician and executive board member of IAP for 2021.

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