United States – New evidence has revealed that weight loss can assist a person with obesity, especially diabetes, to prevent severe infections.
Hospitalizations and Infection Risk in Diabetics
It is a significant discovery, especially given that ‘as much as one-third of hospitalizations in patients with diabetes are due to infections and patients with diabetes are two times more likely to be admitted for infections than a non-diabetic patient, who is also more prone to readmission,’ co-lead of the study, Rhian Hopkins. She works at the University of Exeter Medical School in the U.K., as reported by HealthDay.
Hopkins reported the findings at the EASD’s annual meeting in Madrid on Saturday.
The Role of Obesity in Infection Susceptibility
The new study employed data from a long-term investigation called UK Biobank, which has records of nearly 500,000 British individuals’ health details.
As per their records, about 64,000 had been hospitalized for bacterial infections regarding UTI or pneumonia and almost 15,000 for viral infection, which may include flu; about 408,000 had never been hospitalized for any type of infection.
The team also observed that obesity may mean increased susceptibility to severe infections. Any increment of 5 in the value of BMI, for instance, moving from a BMI of 30, which the World Health Organisation defines as the onset of obesity, to 35, was associated with a 30% increased likelihood of acquiring a serious bacterial infection, a 32% increase in the chances of a severe viral infection.
These associations were for all members of the general population, not just those with diabetes, according to Hopkins. However, because diabetes increases the risks of infection in the first place, the results are especially useful for those with sugar disease, she noted, as reported by HealthDay.
Implications for Diabetes Patients
“Infections are a major cause of death and ill health, particularly in people with diabetes,” Hopkins said in a EASD news release. “Anyone admitted to hospital with a severe infection is also at high risk of being admitted again with another.”
“This study demonstrates that higher BMI is a cause of hospital admission with infection,” she added. “Clinicians could discuss weight-loss options for people with a high BMI at risk of severe infections and readmission to hospital for infection.”