From Cara Murez
HealthDay reporter
TUESDAY, June 29, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Hospitalized patients with diabetes who had not taken their medication have had more severe cases of COVID-19, a new study shows.
“Our results underscore the importance of assessing, monitoring and controlling blood sugar [sugar] in hospitalized COVID-19 patients from the beginning, “said study author Sudip Bajpeyi, associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at El Paso. Speaking in a press release from the American Diabetes Association, which held its virtual annual meeting on Friday, when the study was presented.
Almost one in five Americans with diabetes reported having to choose between buying food or buying drugs and medical supplies to treat their diabetes because of the financial pressures of the pandemic, the study found.
Researchers looked at the effects of uncontrolled diabetes – or a lack of medication – on the severity of COVID-19, focusing on a population that was 89% Hispanic. They found that the Latin community is 2.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 and 50% more likely to die from diabetes compared to whites.
Forty percent of Americans who have died from COVID-19 have had diabetes, and 1 in 10 diabetics hospitalized for COVID-19 will die within a week, the researchers said.
The study used medical records from 369 patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to El Paso University Hospital. They were divided into one of three groups based on blood A1C levels (a measure of blood sugar control): normal blood sugar levels, prediabetes, and diabetes. The diabetes group reported on their drug-based diabetes management at the time of admission.
Bajpeyi’s team found that patients with untreated diabetes – based on a rapid assessment of sepsis-related organ failure and length of hospital stay – had a significantly higher severity of COVID-19 than patients treated with medication for diabetes.
Patients with lower blood sugar levels had fewer severe complications and shorter hospital stays, according to the study.
The research results presented at the meetings are considered preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The International Diabetes Federation has more about diabetes and COVID-19.
SOURCE: American Diabetes Association, news release, June 25, 2021
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