Excess COVID-19 death risk from type 2 diabetes decreases with increasing age
FRIDAY, Feb. 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Mortality risk from infection with COVID-19 among middle-aged adults with type 2 diabetes is elevated compared with adults without diabetes and is the equivalent of adding 20 years of chronological age to assessing overall related death risk, according to a research letter published online Feb. 16 in Diabetologia.
Andrew P. McGovern, from the University of Exeter Medical School in the United Kingdom, and colleagues used data from the COVID-19 Hospitalisation in England Surveillance System cohort (19,256 individuals admitted to critical care in England; 18.3 percent with type 2 diabetes). Hazard ratio estimates were translated into “COVID-age,” which represents the additional years of COVID-19 mortality risk added to an individual’s chronological age if diabetes is present.
The researchers report that overall, the 30-day in-hospital mortality rate was 26.4 percent. The additional COVID-19 mortality risk associated with diabetes (COVID-age) was markedly higher in younger than older people, reflecting the higher relative risk of COVID-19-related mortality associated with diabetes in younger age groups (hazard ratios for diabetes, >5 in adults <50 years of age). The additional mortality risk was equivalent to around 20 years of chronological age for a person aged 40 years with diabetes, yielding an overall mortality risk similar to that of a 60-year-old person without diabetes. The impact of COVID-age shrinks for older adults, with a person aged 70 years with diabetes having an additional eight years of mortality risk from diabetes, yielding a COVID-age of 78 years.
“Strategies to define priority groups for vaccination must consider the disproportionate relative risk of COVID-19 mortality in middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes whose COVID-19 risk is already elevated by their age,” McGovern said in a statement. “We recommend that anyone with diabetes takes up the vaccine as soon as it’s available to them.”
.jpg)
Pregnancy Complications Linked to Subsequent Risk for Cardiometabolic-Renal Conditions 
GLP-1 Receptor Agonists, SGLT-2is Slow Renal Function Decline in T2D With Albuminuria 
Genetics, Diabetes Tied to MASLD-Associated Cirrhosis Before Age 50 
Study IDs Risk Factors for Ketoacidosis in Adults With T2D Receiving SGLT2 Inhibitors 
Drug Interactions Reducing Contraceptive Effectiveness Common in Epilepsy .jpg)
Most Specialty Oral Anticancer Meds for Blood Cancers Are Initially Rejected by Insurers 
1 in 3 With Lupus Take Supplements, Medications With Potential for Interactions 
Holding DMARDs at Time of COVID-19 Vaccine Not Warranted in Those With Inflammatory Arthritis 
