IC doctors already noticed it with the naked eye: the majority of corona patients on respiration are overweight. Now there is more clarity on this connection. The virus likes to bind to fat.
90 percent of the corona patients on ventilation in his department are overweight, said Peter van der Voort, professor at the University of Groningen (RUG) and head of the intensive care unit at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG).
Two options
This currently amounts to 26 out of 29 people in Groningen. This percentage corresponds to the experiences of colleagues from other hospitals in the Netherlands and in Italy and China, where thousands of people ended up in ICU because of corona.
Van der Voort explains: “After being infected with the virus, you become ill a week later. During 10 days you become sicker and there are two options: either you heal or you become so ill that you have to go on a ventilator.” the last group are always overweight people. “
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How it works
In the meantime, research by his team has yielded a first concrete indication of the link between the coronavirus and obesity. The COVID-19 virus invades cells by binding to so-called ACE2 receptors on the outside of cells.
ACE2 receptors are mainly found on lung cells (which is why you get a cough), intestinal cells (some get diarrhea) and fat cells. The latter is why fat people get more problems. The more fat tissue, the more virus enters the body. “So we are now investigating how this leads to lung damage, which means that you need ventilation”, explains Van der Voort.
What is heavy?
Almost all people on the ventilator have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 and higher. “That is not very much and often occurs in the Netherlands,” says Van der Voort. From a BMI of 30 we speak of serious overweight or obesity.
Van der Voort wants to emphasize that his results are not intended to stigmatize fat people. He hastens to say that everyone is welcome in the Intensive care unit. “I don’t want to judge, I want to understand in order to prevent treatment in intensive care.” Most overweight people just recover. He also strongly advises against people trying to lose weight quickly. Strict diets affect resistance.
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Smoking
Earlier reports also linked the severity of a corona infection to smoking. Van der Voort cannot confirm that. In the studies he has seen, it does not appear that people who smoke or have smoked need ventilation more often.
The professor and his team continue to test their research hypothesis. He mainly wants to know which process between the different substances in the adipose tissue causes the lung damage.
Peter van der Voort, professor at the University of Groningen and head of the Intensive Care Unit at UMC Groningen, talks about this subject in Radio EenVandaag.
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