Since 2020, the year in which the World Health Organization (WHO) decreed the COVID-19 pandemic in the worlddifferent risk factors and chronic diseases began to be identified as “at risk” by specialists in order to alert the population that might be vulnerable to complications due to the virus, one of these aspects is obesity.
The United States National Institute of Health noted as of May 2020 that obesity is a risk factor to get seriously ill from COVID. Having obesity increases the risk of hospitalization and admission to intensive care units in different countries, as well as the need for beds with a ventilator.
Many countries in the world had to face the COVID pandemic with high rates of obesity, as was the case in Mexico, with a rate of 75 percent of the adult population being overweightthis according to the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt).
More than two years and four months following the WHO declared COVID a pandemic, we ask ourselves: How have people with obesity lived this time? A study published in The Lancet explains the look of the people who faced confinement suffering from obesity, and explains issues ranging from stigmatization due to their physical condition to the discourse of health authorities with which they have been made to feel “punished and segregated.”
The COVID lockdown for people with obesity, how has it been?
Theories generated since the studies on COVID began to be carried out in people with obesity point to “the metabolic effects of obesity on respiratory functionmetabolic dysfunction, enhanced inflammatory response, and altered response to infection as possible (risk) mechanisms.”
For this reason, the study found that people with obesity felt stigmatized being considered “at risk” by the media and people who were not at risk. In addition, the confinement came to cause damage to their diet and also to their health.
The weight stigmatization appeared in “media, healthcare settings, interpersonal relationships, and public campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic.” As if that were not enough, people with obesity noted that “other people changed their behavior towards them during the pandemic “.
As a result of a series of interviews, people with obesity identified two major issues: The impact of COVID on their life and well-being and the experience of being categorized as “at risk” by different sectors of the population.
Fear, stigmatization and exclusion due to obesity…
- Fear: After some governments classified people with obesity as risk groups, people with obesity took it at first as “a wake-up call”. The interviewees assure that they were afraid of the possibility of suffering complications from a possible COVID infection.
- Segregation: The issue of segregation was important, because some interviewees felt excluded and singled out. as if it were some kind of “punishment” for being overweight.
“It is systemic isolation… There is a kind of ‘them and us’ scenario with segregation… (they keep you) isolated from participation in society in a subtle way,” said one interviewee.
- Stigmatization: Some interviewees accused that during the first two years of the pandemic there was , due to the exercise carried out before more free hours were available. people with obesity, blaming them for having saturated hospitals due to COVID.
“At the beginning of COVID, when people were talking regarding obesity and you know, it sounded like all obese people were blocking the beds in the hospital and basically they should be eradicated, you know? It was just horrible,” said a testimonial in the studio.
“The conversation was: oh, you know, ‘these are all overweight people and that’s why they are high risk‘”, said an interviewee named Ada, who also recalled that a comedian on television asked an overweight person not to approach him because “it was risky”.
On the other hand, COVID establishment closures were negative for some people with obesity, as they did not have healthy food within their reach, and they did have fast food menus on hand. In addition, the possibility of going out to exercise or go to a gym (as the interviewees narrate) was almost nil, so physical activities were reduced.
A smaller section of those interviewed said that had the opportunity to improve their physical conditiondue to the exercise carried out before more free hours available.
About the study
This research was conducted in Ireland between February and November 2021. 15 people attending weight management and diabetes management clinics in the country were interviewed in depth.
