Adult obesity was associated with substantially higher risk of severe infectious disease outcomes in this large multicohort analysis of more than 540,000 adults from Finnish cohorts and the UK Biobank, with those with obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m²) experiencing about a 70% increased hazard of infection-related hospitalization or death compared with healthy-weight peers, and risk escalating with higher adiposity across 925 bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal infections. When linked to Global Burden of Disease mortality data, the investigators estimated that approximately 1 in 10 infection-related deaths worldwide may be attributable to obesity, underscoring excess body weight as a significant and potentially modifiable determinant of severe infection burden.

Source: The Lancet