Long-time readers will know that one of my first posts was about being a diabetic in a Covid World. The thrust of the article was that diabetics were at a greater risk from Covid not because of diabetes per se but because of underlying health problems such as obesity. Put another way, the lifestyle choices that brought on Type-2 diabetes were also putting Type-2s at a greater risk of death once they caught the virus.
A new study has come out of France that backs up the initial findings I highlighted back in May. This is also a more robust and larger study with 1317 participants. Again, poor glucose control, insulin and metformin usage and age were not factors that increased the risk of death. Instead, being high on the body-mass index (BMI) led to a significantly higher chances of “tracheal intubation for mechanical ventilation and death within 7 days of admission.”
In addition, if the diabetics brought comorbidities with them into the hospital, that also led to higher chances of mechanical ventilation and death. Comorbidities are simply other health problems that someone has on top of his main disease. So in the case of this study, researchers found that diabetics who also had hypertension, micro- and macrovascular diabetic complications, heart failure and obstructive sleep apnoea were at a much greater risk.
Conclusion
Obviously optimum blood control is essential for any diabetic to maintain good health. However, when it comes to Covid, it seems that being fat is the worst thing you can be. Again, the very poor lifestyle choices that people make that leads to Type-2 diabetes also leads to greater risk of death from Covid.
