One in five diabetes patients hospitalized with COVID-19 die within 28 days of admission, an ongoing study found, according to numerous sources.
The study by the University of Nantes in France also found that one in eight diabetes patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 were still in the hospital 28 days after being admitted. The results are from the CORONADO study that analyzes the outcomes of patients with diabetes who are admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, according to a news release from the medical journal Diabetologia, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
A woman with diabetes uses a glucometer to measure the glycemia in her blood in Paris on March 24, 2020, on the eighth day of a strict lockdown in France aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
The results are an update of the study, which published preliminary results in May 2020 that showed that 10% of patients with diabetes and COVID-19 died within 7 days of hospitalization, although the earlier results are from a smaller sample size. (RELATED: More Deaths Than Expected This Year — But Not Just From Coronavirus)
The latest findings are from 2,796 patients with diabetes, 577 of which died within the 28 days of hospital admission. Almost 50% of patients were discharged from the hospital, with a median duration of a 9-day stay. At day 28, 12% of the patients were still hospitalized, while 17% had been transferred to other facilities.
Although it’s unclear whether people with diabetes are more likely to get COVID-19 than the general population, people with diabetes are more likely to have severe complications from COVID-19, according to the American Diabetes Association. Individuals with additional health conditions have an even greater risk of complications if they’re infected with the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people with high-risk medical conditions be among the prioritized groups in vaccine rollout. Among the conditions the CDC lists is type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes was classified as lower risk than type 2 diabetes, which the ADA disputed in a letter to the CDC urging both medical conditions to be considered equally as risky for patients who are infected with COVID-19.
In 2018, 10.5% of the American population, or 34.2 million people, had diabetes. Of the 34.2 million adults with diabetes, 7.3 million were undiagnosed, according to the ADA.