Coronavirus disease-2019: A tocsin to our aging, unfit, corpulent, and immunodeficient society.

ABSTRACT: Acute and chronic respiratory illnesses cause widespread morbidity and mortality, and this class of illness now includes the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome that is causing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). The world is experiencing a major demographic shift toward an older, obese, and physically inactive populace. Risk factor assessments based on pandemic data indicate that those at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 include older males, and people of all ages with obesity and related comorbidities such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Aging in and of itself leads to negative changes in innate and adaptive immunity, a process termed immunosenescence. Obesity causes systemic inflammation and adversely impacts immune function and host defense in a way th

SUBMITTER: Nieman DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7205734 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature