New Delhi: Losing weight has various advantages, and now scientists claim that shedding the extra kilos around the waist may lessen the risk of severe flu and other infections in persons with diabetes.
Rhian Hopkins and Ethan de Villiers of the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom discovered evidence that a higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with severe illnesses.
In contrast, research published in the journal Diabetologia found no indication that mild hyperglycemia increases the probability of a serious infection.
“Up to one in three hospitalisations in people with diabetes are for infections, and people with diabetes are twice as likely to be hospitalised with infections than the general population. They are also at high risk of readmission,” said Hopkins.
Previous research has shown that a greater BMI and poor blood sugar control are connected with serious illnesses.
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However, because these investigations were observational, they could not establish causality.
The researchers looked at data from the UK Biobank to see how greater BMI and poor blood sugar control affected hospitalisation for bacterial and viral illnesses.
A greater BMI was found to be related to hospitalisation for infections. The probability of being hospitalised for a bacterial illness increased by 30% for every 5-point rise in BMI.
Similarly, every five-point BMI rise was related to a 32% increased risk of severe viral infection.
This revealed that having a higher BMI is one of the risk factors for severe bacterial and viral illnesses. However, modest hyperglycemia did not appear to be a source of serious infections.
Infections are a major cause of death and illness, especially among people with diabetes.
According to studies, everyone hospitalised with a severe infection is highly likely to be admitted again with another.
While this message may be especially pertinent to diabetics, they stressed that it also applies to a wider audience.
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–IANS
