Does diabetes increase the risk of COVID-19?
Diabetes appears to be a common comorbidity in patients with COVID-19
although a causal relationship is not clear. For example, a prevalence
of diabetes among Chinese cohort, mean age 49.6 years, was reported to
be 10.3% which is comparable to the prevalence of diabetes in the
general population of China at 10.9% overall and 12.3% among people
aged 40-59. 4, 34 Similarly, the prevalence of
diabetes among British COVID-19 patients, median age 73 years, of 21%
was similar to the reported prevalence of 23.8% among those above the
age of 75 years. 35 The US data showed slightly higher
prevalence of 33.8% in COVID-19 patients while the prevalence in the
general population of a similar age is around 26.8%.36 Therefore, the variable prevalence of diabetes
reported in COVID-19 studies may simply reflect the local demographics
across different countries. Diabetes may increase the risk of infection
due to immunologic defects, such as decreased neutrophilic migration,
phagocytosis, intracellular killing, and chemotaxis, however, the
evidence remains controversial whether diabetes itself or the associated
comorbidities is the main factor involved. 37