Medical complications of obesity: heightened importance in a COVID era

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a major public health problem associated with significant medical complications. MAIN BODY: This review examines 8 primary diseases: type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dementia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, dyslipidemia, cancer, and their manifestations in obese patients. A total of 39 articles were used for this review. The authors conducted limited review, searching PubMed and Google Scholar databases using a combination of key words “COVID-19” or “SARS-COV2”, “type 2 diabetes”, “hypertension”, “dementia”, “non-alcoholic fatty liver disease”, “polycystic ovarian syndrome”, “dyslipidemia”, “cancer”, and “obesity”. No specific date limitation was used. Obesity exacerbates many medical conditions and has recently been identified as an independent risk factor for COVID-19 severity. This sets obesity at the pinnacle of all disease complications. The long-term impact of obesity ranges from financial burden on the health system, lower life expectancy, and reduced survival rates. CONCLUSION: Obesity is an important modifiable risk factor. There is the need for healthcare providers to understand the medical complications associated with obesity to optimize patient care.