Weight Affects Likelihood of Experiencing Severe Flu-like Symptoms

Adults who are underweight or obese were found to have an increased risk of being hospitalized with influenza-like illness due to the flu virus or other respiratory viruses, found study published in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.

The observational study included 4778 hospitalized and outpatient patients with influenza-like illness in six hospitals in Mexico.

‘Clinicians should keep a patient's body mass index in mind when evaluating risk of developing severe influenza-like illness and deciding on a course of treatment.’

The risk followed a "U" shaped curve, where individuals at both extremes were more likely to develop severe influenza-like illness when compared with individuals with normal weight.

Source: Eurekalert