OBESE people are more than twice as likely to survive infectious disease than under-weight patients, a study claims.
The “obesity paradox” extends to pneumonia with fatties up to 30 per cent less likely to die.
Researchers looked at more than 18,000 patients admitted for infectious disease and their risk of death 90 days after discharge.
They found underweight patients 2.2 times more likely to die than normal weight people.
But the overweight were 40 per cent less likely to die than those at normal weight and the obese 50 per cent less likely.
The Danish team suggested obesity could be an evolutionary defence to infectious disease.
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A separate study looked at 1.7million pneumonia patients in the US.
The Chinese researchers found the overweight were 23 per cent more likely to survive than normal weight.
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