Omaha, NE - There is growing concern in the medical community, that overweight people can experience deadly complications.

"There is an increased proportion of folks who have bad outcomes with H1N1 who are obese," says Dr. Mark Rupp, MD, UNMC.

In fact, the CDC says obese people make up a third of all H1N1 patients who end up in intensive care. Rupp studies infectious diseases. He says, "Perhaps obese people may have decreases ability to fully inflate the their lungs. Maybe putting a stress on their cardiovascular system."

This November alone, metro health departments recorded two deaths from H1N1. John Bernardi and more recently Steven Gilmore. The agencies won't give us any details because of a state ordinance. Bernardi's partner told Action 3 News he was overweight. As for Gilmore, friends and co-workers say he weighed roughly 300 pounds. The families of both men say they had no underlying medical conditions.

While the health department says it can't legally confirm or deny weight as a contributing to their deaths, the issue is something being investigated at the national level. If the national study determines obesity can complicate H1N1, overweight people might soon be in the high risk category and move up in line for the vaccine.

Reported by Dave Roberts, droberts@action3news.com