- Diabetes increases the risk of dying from Covid-19
- A systematic review assessed 22 studies that looked at the relationship between the two diseases
- Men with diabetes are more likely to die than women if they are infected with Covid-19
According to a new systematic review study, people with advanced diabetes are at higher risk of dying from Covid-19.
The study, published in Diabetologia, evaluated 22 studies that focused on the relationship between SAR-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, and diabetes.
Look at different studies
The researchers used a total of 22 articles with 17,687 participants who met the inclusion criteria.
They took into account pre-existing conditions such as cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. They also considered treatment for diabetes and blood sugar levels.
The study authors included studies that reported risk estimates for associations between general human characteristics, diabetes-specific characteristics, the presence of diabetes-related complications or underlying comorbidities, and laboratory parameters.
They also rated the death and severity of Covid-19 in people with diabetes and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Covid-19 severity levels were: death, need for mechanical ventilation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, ICU admission, multiple organ dysfunction or failure, and hospitalization.
What the studies show
The results of several studies show that people with advanced diabetes have a higher risk of death when infected with SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers found that men with diabetes were 28% more likely to die from Covid-19 than women with diabetes, while people over 65 with diabetes were more than three times more likely to die than people with diabetes.
Of the 22 studies, five found that people who used insulin to control their diabetes were 75% more likely to die from Covid-19 than non-insulin users. They find that the use of insulin usually indicates more advanced diabetes.
However, four studies show that people who treat their diabetes with metformin, a “first-line” therapy used to treat people with type 2 diabetes, are 50% less likely to die from Covid-19 than people who use the drug do not take.
“People with a more severe course of diabetes have a worse prognosis for Covid-19 than people with a milder course of [the] Illness. In order to further strengthen the evidence, further studies are needed on this topic that take into account potential confounding factors, “the authors write.
