Obesity has emerged as a possible contributing factor in fatal swine flu cases, research looking at deaths caused by the pandemic has shown.
The claim comes from a team from the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, which has studied the characteristics of 574 deaths associated with the pandemic. According to the team’s findings, published in medical journal Eurosurveillance, underlying disease was found in at least half of all fatal cases.
Mortality patterns were in many cases similar to those associated with normal, seasonal flu. But the team observed: “Nevertheless two risk factors are noticeable: pregnancy and obesity.”
The study found that 16 women — representing 10 percent of all female deaths that were studied — were pregnant or had recently delivered at the time of their death. Half of these also had other health issues.
The conclusion that obesity may be a factor in some swine flu deaths opens up a new line of investigation. Where an underlying disease was found to be present after someone had died of swine flu, in more than one in four cases the deceased had a metabolic condition — diabetes and/or obesity.
The team, which concluded further research needed to be done to establish the link between obesity, severe influenza and mortality, also found significant demographic variations among those affected by the pandemic.
“Compared to younger age groups, the elderly seem to be protected from infection to some extent, perhaps due to previous exposure to strains akin to influenza A(H1N1) virus,” the team claim.
There has been a view that fatal cases involving the pandemic have tended to occur among the young, the team said. And they found more than half of all deaths occurred among the 20 to 49-year-old age group. Overall, 12 percent of deaths occurred in cases aged 60 years or more.
RSS