The Effects of Obesity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 and Obesity Surgery

COVID-19, which has become a pandemic worldwide, is a serious disease. Inflammation in the alveoli, the air sacs in the lungs where gas exchange takes place, thickens their walls, causing carbon dioxide to build up in the blood and oxygen levels to fall. Although the likelihood of a severe course increases in older adults and people with chronic illnesses, the disease can also be severe in young people. Unfortunately, because there is not yet a highly effective treatment, it can be fatal. Although we have effective vaccine options, vaccination rates worldwide have not reached the desired level because of both cost and vaccine refusal. This leads to various mutations and variants. Unfortunately, the susceptibility of variant viruses to existing vaccines is also decreasing. A third vaccine dose has begun to be recommended.

Because people all over the world have become overwhelmed and fatigued by measures such as masks, distancing, hygiene, social isolation, lockdowns, travel restrictions and quarantine, new variants can spread around the world in a short time. Unfortunately, it cannot be predicted when the pandemic will end, when a new variant will emerge, whether vaccines will be effective against that variant or how severe the disease will be. Considering all these uncertainties, obesity surgery is recommended for patients who need it.

Obesity has always been a serious problem, but it has become the plague of our age, especially over the last century, because of less active lifestyles, energy-dense foods, busy work and school lives and the resulting need to eat irregularly. In addition to affecting many organs and systems, it significantly reduces lung capacity and causes difficulty breathing. For this reason, obesity is one of the leading chronic conditions in which COVID-19 takes a severe course. This has also been proven by scientific studies.

Obesity surgery is an effective treatment method that is performed safely today with acceptable complication rates. After the operation, although it varies according to height-to-weight ratio, it is possible to lose 20–30 kg even within the first 3 months. Considering the positive effects of weight loss on the lungs and the immune system, and on the natural functioning of other organs and systems, it is thought that it will reduce the risk factors for COVID-19. We recommend obesity surgery for patients who need it, for many reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

You are welcome to visit the Özel Can Hastanesi General Surgery outpatient clinic for all your questions about obesity and for an evaluation of individual treatment options. We wish you a healthy and happy life.