Global prevalence of diabetes associated with severity of COVID-19

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New data show the prevalence of Diabetes died of serious illness COVID-19 patients are nearly 50% higher than all hospitalized patients, demonstrating a correlation between COVID-19 severity and global diabetes prevalence.¹

Researchers at the China-Australia Collaborative Research Center for Infectious Diseases found that diabetes contributes to 9.5% of severe cases and 16.8% of deaths in COVID-19.

“The high population prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes may be a public health concern during the COVID epidemic,” the researchers wrote. Optimal glycemic control strategies should be effective in preventing COVID-19-related severity and mortality.”

Over the years, viral pandemics, including the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic and the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, have placed people with diabetes at significantly higher risk of severe disease outcomes. suggests. The current global disease burden from both COVID-19 and diabetes is likely to be a significant public health concern worldwide, and there is a need to quantify the impact of diabetes on the pandemic and reduce its risk. Developing a control strategy is important.

A research team led by Lei Zhang and Guihua Zhuang quantified the prevalence of diabetes in different stages of COVID-19 at global, regional, and country levels, and calculated the population contribution fraction of diabetes to COVID-related severity ( PAF) and death. The researchers systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science to find out-to-May 2022 data on the prevalence of diabetes in various stratified groups of individuals with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. We identified peer-reviewed studies. According to the researchers, studies of any design were eligible for inclusion if each reported the prevalence of diabetes in subjects with a known diagnosis, severity, or outcome.

A random-effects meta-analysis was used to estimate the overall prevalence of diabetes among COVID-19-positive individuals, stratifying individuals into subgroups according to severity and outcome. Subgroup analyzes were performed according to COVID-19 pandemic wave, geographical region, national income level, national healthcare access and quality (HAQ), and national disease burden.

Overall, a total of 29,874,938 people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection from 60 countries were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that the global prevalence of diabetes increased in the group of COVID-19 patients with increasing disease severity.

The pooled diabetes prevalence was 14.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 12.5–16.9), diabetes was present in 10.4% (95% CI, 7.6–13.6) of nonhospitalized cases and 21.4% (95% CI, 20.4–22.5) of hospitalized cases. I was. Furthermore, the prevalence of diabetes among hospitalized patients was 11.9% (95% CI, 10.2 – 13.7) for non-severe cases, 28.9% (95% CI, 27.0 – 30.8) for severe cases, 34.6% (95% CI, 32.8 – 36.5) of reduced individuals.

Subgroup analyzes indicated that pooled prevalence heterogeneity could be attributed to temporal and geographic trends, country income and HAQ, and country diabetes burden. Multivariate meta-regression analysis revealed that all included variables combined could explain 53–83% of the heterogeneity in pooled diabetes prevalence among different COVID-19 groups.

Using a modified comparative risk assessment model, the researchers found that the presence of serious disease in COVID-19 cases reduced the overall PAF for diabetes to 9.5% (95% CI, 7.3 – 11.7), 16.8 % (95% CI, 14.8). – 18.8) for COVID-19 related deaths. The team noted that in countries with higher income levels, higher HAQ, and lower diabetes burden, his PAF for diabetes, which contributes to the disease burden of COVID-19, is lower.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to globally quantify the impact of diabetes on adverse outcomes of COVID-19,” the researchers wrote. “This finding supports the fact that people with diabetes are more likely to develop serious complications when infected with SARS-CoV-2.”

References

1. Rui Li, Shen Mingwan, Yang Chengcheng, Christopher K. Fairley, Chai Zhongling, Robert McIntyre, Jason J. Ong, Hanting Liu, Penji Lu, Wenyi Fu, Zhuol Zhou, Zenbing Li, Shihao He, Guihua Chuan, Lei Zhang prevalence of patients with diabetes and their contribution to COVID-19 – associated severity and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Diabetes Care 1 Apr 2023; 46(4): 890–897 https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-1943