Adult Obesity Increases Risk for Infection-Related Hospitalizations, Mortality
FRIDAY, Feb. 13, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Adult obesity is a risk factor for infection-related hospitalizations and mortality, with about 10 percent of infection-related deaths due to obesity in 2023, according to a study published online Feb. 9 in The Lancet.
Solja T. Nyberg, Ph.D., from the University of Helsinki in Finland, and colleagues used pooled data from two Finnish cohort studies and repeated analyses in an independent population from the U.K. Biobank to examine the association between adult obesity and the incidence, hospitalizations, and mortality of 925 bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal infectious diseases.
A total of 67,766 adults from the Finnish cohorts and 479,498 adults from the U.K. Biobank were included in the analysis. There were 8,230 incident infection cases in the Finnish cohorts and 81,945 in the U.K. Biobank during follow-up. The researchers found that individuals with class III obesity had a significantly higher risk for infection-related hospital admissions (hazard ratios, 2.75 and 3.07 for Finnish cohorts and U.K. Biobank, respectively), death (3.06 and 3.54, respectively), or either outcome (2.69 and 3.07, respectively) compared with individuals of healthy weight. Among adults with obesity (classes I to III), the corresponding pooled hazard ratio for either fatal or nonfatal severe infection was 1.7. The population attributable fractions of infection-related deaths due to obesity were estimated at 8.6, 15.0, and 10.8 percent in 2018, 2021, and 2023, respectively, applying these risk estimates to global burden of disease data.
"As obesity rates are expected to rise globally, so will the number of deaths and hospitalizations from infectious diseases linked to obesity," Nyberg said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.