BMI and Walking Pace and Severe COVID-19 Risk [COVID-19 and Physical Activity Series]
Obesity, walking pace, and risk of severe COVID-19 by Dr. Yates and co-authors assessed self-reported walking pace as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 independent of obesity. Analysis was conducted using 414,201 UK Biobank participants—a large prospective cohort of middle-aged adults—with complete covariate and linked COVID-19 data for the period March 16, 2020 to June 20, 2020. Previous research shows that self-reported walking pace, a measure of functional fitness, is a strong predictor of mortality—individuals with a self-reported slow walking pace have 2 to 4 times the risk of cardiovascular mortality compared to individuals with a brisk walking pace. Dr. Yates and co-authors found that slow walkers had the highest risk of severe COVID- 19 regardless of obesity status. Specifically, compared to normal weight brisk walkers, the odds of severe COVID-19 in slow walkers was over 2 times greater across all categories of obesity status. [1.39 (0.99, 1.98) versus 2.48 (1.56, 3.93)]. This study highlights BMI and walking pace as potential risk factors for severe COVID-19, slow walkers in particular having the greatest risk. Ongoing public health and research surveillance studies should consider incorporating simple measures of physical fitness in addition to BMI as potential risk factors that have important public health implications.
Yates, T., Razieh, C., Zaccardi, F., Seidu, S., Davies, M. J., & Khunti, K. (2020). Obesity, walking pace and risk of severe COVID-19: Analysis of UK Biobank. medRxiv (preprint).
