How Vulnerable Are Mexicans to COVID-19?

According to WHO, people with diabetes are of the most vulnerable groups to the COVID-19 virus. In Mexico, the characteristics of the deceased, in terms of chronic diseases, are liver failure, asthma, obesity, diabetes, immunosuppression and risk elements, such as smoking. At least four of the deceased suffered but diabetes, two had obesity and two of them suffered from hypertension.

Mexico has the highest rate of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. It is estimated that around 12 million people suffer from diabetes and around 34 million adults are on risk to develop it throughout their life. So, even though COVID-19 might not be lethal for healthy young people, millions of people in Mexico are at risk of facing serious complications if infected. This scenario is also replicable in obesity cases and, according to the OECD, 73 percent of the population suffers from obesity and of this percentage, 34 percent suffers from morbid obesity.

At the beginning of the year, announcements of new labeling were being highly promoted by the government. This initiative came up as a way to combat the worrying number of obesity patients threatening our population but they were also urgent as the OECD demonstrated how much the country’s productivity was being affected and slowed down by the population’s health. This initiative has not yet had a fructiferous end but the proposal is still going strong.

A representative from the Ministry of Economy said that “according to our projections, overweight-related illnesses will reduce life expectancy in Mexico by more than four years in the next three decades. This is the largest projected reduction among OECD countries.”

After heart disease, diabetes is the most common cause of health-related death in Mexico. Around 10.3 percent of the population aged 20 or older suffer from diabetes. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is even more prevalent, affecting 18.4 percent of the population aged 20 or older, meaning 15.2 million people.

Dr. José Luis Mora, cardiologist at ISSSTE stated that “with the pandemic, the problem is becoming even bigger, unfortunately.” Paulina Magaña, researcher at El Poder del Consumidor, recalled that in Mexico it is estimated that 96 million people, more than 70 percent of the total population, are overweight and/or obese and deaths from this condition exceed 200,000 a year. Indeed, there are just some groups of the population more vulnerable to COVID-19. Unfortunately, Mexico has millions of people that adhere to these vulnerable groups.

A Mexico UN representative has said that in the country the forecast of the federal government is that 6 percent of the population will require highly specialized treatments, but the number is expected to be higher for the high rate of Type 2 diabetes Mellitus patients, an ailment associated with hypertension, respiratory problems and with various cancers. “Mexico has a population that is more at risk because we know that this disease strikes first of all adults over 60 years in particular. But, in addition, it affects those who have morbidities such as diabetes and hypertension. We could see more cases here in Mexico for that reason,” he said.