[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by S=kBlogW

CDC says:

The US obesity prevalence was 42.4% in 2017 – 2018.

From 1999 –2000 through 2017 –2018, US obesity prevalence increased from 30.5% to 42.4%. During the same time, the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.

Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. These are among the leading causes of preventable, premature death.

The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion in 2008. Medical costs for people who had obesity was $1,429 higher than medical costs for people with healthy weight.

Adult Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity | CDC

We are the most obese nation on earth except for some island nations in the South Pacific and Kuwait.

Is 78% significant? Obviously. I think obesity at 78% of hospitalized covid patients is the highest for any comorbidity other than maybe old age. Not sure what you mean by cross section. It means if you eat too many quadruple burgers with extra sauce and get covid, you are likely to end up in the hospital.

Your statistic was overweight or obese at 78%. Obesity is 42% but there is some percentage of the population that contributes to the overweight category. If the combined overweight or obese percentage of the US is in the 70s then your statistic looks more like a random sampling than a significant indicator.

Unfortunately, I have forgotten the equations for determining statistical significance.