10% of diabetics die within days of being hospitalised: Study

One in ten hospitalised Covid-19 patients, who also have diabetes, may die within seven days of admission, and one in five may need to be intubated and mechanically ventilated by this point, according to a study.

Researchers, including those from the University of Nantes in France, analysed data from 1,317 Covid-19 patients admitted to 53 French hospitals between 10 and 31 March 2020.

They said a majority of the these patients, nearly 90 per cent, had type 2 diabetes, while only 3 per cent had type 1 diabetes, with other types of diabetes in the remaining cases.

According to the research, published in the journal Diabetologia, two thirds of the Covid-19 patients with diabetes admitted to the hospitals were men, and the average age of all patients was 70 years.

The researchers noted that bad blood sugar control did not directly seem to impact a patient’s outcome, but the presence of diabetic complications and old age increased the risk of death.

They said an increased BMI, which is a measure of the weight of a person with respect to their height, is associated with both increased risk of needing mechanical ventilation, and with increased risk of death.

Complications were also noted in the eye, kidney, and nerves in 47 per cent of the subjects, while small blood vesselrelated microvascular problems of the heart, brain, and legs were present in 41 per cent of the patients, the study noted.

Across all patients in this study, the researchers said, one in five had been intubated by day seven, and placed on a ventilator in intensive care.

By this time, they said about one in 10 had died, and a further 18 per cent had been discharged home.