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Individuals with Diabetes Face Significantly Higher Risks of Dying from COVID-19

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, according to Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security ,a study published in The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology evaluated the risk of COVID-19 disease and death among patients with diabetes. The researchers collected data on the entire population of Scotland, and focused on the country’s “first wave” of COVID-19 (March-July 2020). The researchers compared the cumulative COVID-19 mortality and the incidence of COVID-19 cases that required critical care among individuals with and without diabetes. The combined odds of requiring critical care or dying from COVID-19 (in or outside of a hospital) was significantly higher among individuals with diabetes (aOR=1.4). The odds of requiring critical care or dying was even higher for patients with Type 1 diabetes (aOR=2.4). Diabetes has been previously identified as a preexisting condition associated with elevated risk of severe COVID-19 disease and death, and this study provides further quantitative data to support that association.

The US CDC lists type 2 diabetes as a condition associated with increased risk and type 1 diabetes as a condition that “might be” associated with increased risk. Notably, this study identified higher risk of severe disease and death among individuals with type 1 diabetes than those with type 2 diabetes, but both were significantly associated with increased risk. Further study is needed to more fully characterize the effects of both types of diabetes on COVID-19 disease.
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