Most teenagers hospitalized with COVID-19 across six major hospitals over the summer were severely obese, according to a recently published Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study. Researchers with the agency and children’s hospitals examined data on adolescents who went to hospitals in July or August and had COVID-19. Of the 713 patients identified as being hospitalized for COVID-19, approximately two-thirds had one or more underlying medical conditions, with obesity being the most common (32.4 percent). Among children 12 through 17, 61.4 percent of the patients were obese. Most of them were described as having severe obesity. Among children aged 5 to 11, 33.6 percent were obese. “Compared with patients without obesity, those with obesity required higher levels and longer duration of care. These findings are consistent with previous reports and highlight the importance of obesity and other medical conditions as risk factors for severe COVID-19 in children and …