Study sheds light on incidence of diabetes following hospital admission for COVID-19 and pneumonia
New research shows that COVID-19 is not that effective on the incidence of diabetes when compared with risks in several comparator groups, including contemporaneously assessed risks in people hospitalised with pneumonia.
Ahead of the investigation, scientists thought the incidence of diabetes may be elevated following the spread of coronavirus.
However, they were unsure whether it would be specific to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, associated with shared risk factors for severe COVID-19 and diabetes, and / or a generic risk following illness.
As part of the study, people admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and / or pneumonia between April 1, 2020, and August 31, 2020, in England were linked with the National Diabetes Audit to identify incident diabetes after discharge up until March 31, 2021.
Comparator cohorts admitted with pneumonia over the same dates in 2017, 2018 and 2019 were followed until March 31, 2018, March 31, 2019, and March 31, 2020, respectively.
The team of researchers used poisson regression models to calculate adjusted diabetes incidence rates.
The results state: “Using the cohort of people discharged from the hospital following a diagnosis of COVID-19 without pneumonia in 2020 as the standard population (incidence rate 16.4 [95 per cent CI 12.8–20.7] per 1,000 person-years), adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, and deprivation, gave incidence rates of 19.0 (95 per cent CI 13.8–25.6) and 16.6 (95 per cent CI 13.3–20.4) per 1,000 person-years for those admitted for COVID-19 with pneumonia and pneumonia without COVID-19, respectively, in 2020.
“These rates are not significantly different from those found after hospital admission for pneumonia in 2019, 2018, and 2017, at 13.7 (95 per cent CI 10.8–17.3), 13.8 (95 per cent CI 10.9–17.4), and 14.2 (95 per cent CI 10.9–18.3) per 1,000 person-years, respectively.”
Authors for this research included Professor Kamlesh Khunti CBE, Professor Johnathon Valabhji OBE, Dr Bob Young and Naomi Holman.
To access the entire study, click here.
Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash