Obesity and COVID-19 Mortality A Cross-Country Analysis

We highlight a robust correlation between COVID-19 mortality and obesity prevalence using available country level data on COVID-19 mortality as of August 10, 2020. Such association is robust to controlling for other potential comorbidity factors: diabetes, cardio-vascular, and respiratory diseases, further to a set of demographics, urban, and economic, and containment policies controls. We estimate that .6 log point increase in obesity prevalence, or 1 standard deviation, is associated with about an extra .9 log point per 100,000 deaths (or 50% of a standard deviation, .5 σ) .