Associations of type 1 and type 2 diabetes with COVID-19-related mortality in England: a whole-population study

This nationwide analysis found type 1 (OR 3.51; 95% CI 3.16-3.90) and type 2 (2.03; 1.97-2.09) diabetes were both associated with a significant increased odds of in-hospital death with COVID-19, after adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation, and region.

SPS commentary:

The authors carried out further adjustment for cardiovascular comorbidities and found this attenuated these associations slightly; however the risks remained statistically significantly increased. They comment that their findings are novel in suggesting that the effect of diabetes on risk of death with COVID-19 is independent of age, ethnicity, deprivation, and cardiovascular comorbidities, and is in people with all types of diabetes. They note they were unable to adjust for other comorbidities because of limitations in the datasets.

In line with previous research, they also found increased odds of in-hospital death with COVID-19 for older people; men; people of black, Asian, or mixed ethnicities; and those who live in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation.

The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology