The World Health Organization declared COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, a pandemic on March 12, 2020. COVID-19 is causing massive health problems and economic suffering around the world. The European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) promptly recognised the impact that the outbreak could have on people with obesity. On one side, emerging data suggest that obesity represents a risk factor for a more serious and complicated course of COVID-19 in adults. On the other side, the health emergency caused by the outbreak diverts attention from the prevention and care of non-communicable chronic diseases to communicable diseases. This might be particularly true for obesity, a chronic and relapsing disease frequently neglected and linked to significant bias and stigmatization. The Obesity Management Task Force (OMTF) of EASO contributes in this paper to highlighting the key aspects of these two sides of the coin and suggests some specific actions.

Department of Clinical Science University of Bergen Bergen Norway

Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition Clínica Universidad de Navarra University of Navarra IdiSNA CIBEROBN Spanish Health Institute Carlos 3 Pamplona Spain

Department of Human Biology NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism Maastricht University Medical Centre Maastricht The Netherlands

Department of Internal Medicine D and Obesity Clinic Hasharon Hospital Rabin Medical Center Petah Tikva Sackler School of Medicine Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel

Department of Medicine University of Padova Padova Italy

Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Pilsen Czechia

Department of Public Health Faculty of Health Sciences Ben Gurion University of the Negev Be'er Scheva Israel

Division of Endocrinology Metabolism and Diabetes Department of Medicine Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty Istanbul Turkey

European Association for the Study of Obesity Teddington United Kingdom

Obesity Prevention and Care Program Contrepoids Service of Therapeutic Education for Chronic Diseases Department of Community Health Primary Care and Emergency Geneva University Hospitals and University of Geneva Geneva Switzerland

School of Physiotherapy Division of Population Health Sciences Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Dublin Ireland

School of Psychology University of Leeds Leeds United Kingdom

Technological and Educational Institute of Thessaloniki School of Food Technology and Nutrition Department of Nutrition Thessaloniki Greece

Obes Facts. 2020;13(5):453-454. doi: 10.1159/000511186. PubMed

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