Sixty-three per cent of patients in intensive care in UK hospitals because of the killer virus are overweight, obese or morbidly obese.
While the average age of people suffering the most serious symptoms of coronavirus is 64, 37 per cent are under the age of 60.
The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre analysed all admissions to critical care units in the UK up until midnight last Thursday.
At that time, there were 194 coronavirus patients in ICU. That number is thought to have soared in the last four days.
The document provided the first in-depth look at patients who have needed round-the-clock care and boosted medics’ understanding of the virus that has crippled society.
Its finding that obese people are at risk of serious complications from COVID-19 will be concerning for health bosses, as two thirds of adults in the country fall into the category.
And more than a third of critically ill patients being under 60 shows it is not only the very elderly who are at risk.
The report also found that most coronavirus patients in intensive care were male, 71 per cent of all cases, and only 18 patients (9 per cent) had ‘severe co-morbidities’, such as underlying heart conditions or lung disease; while two patients had been pregnant within the last six weeks.
Studies have shown obese people are more likely to suffer serious complications or die from infections, such as the flu.
Doctors say the immune systems of fat people are constantly ramped up as they try to protect and repair the damage inflammation causes to cells.
Using all its energy fending off inflammation means the body’s defence system has few resources left to defend against a new infection like COVID-19.
Obese people also tend to eat a diet with very little fiber and antioxidants - which keep the immune system healthy - such as fruit and vegetables.
Excess weight makes it more difficult for the diaphragm and lungs to expand and inhale oxygen. Starved of oxygen, organs will begin to fail.