Middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes are disproportionately more likely to die from coronavirus infection than patients of other ages. The alarming discovery by the University of Exeter scientists could force doctors to reconsider the COVID-19 vaccination priority groups. The study, which has been accepted for publication in Diabetologia, is summarized in a press release on EurekAlert!
Although the actual risk is not very high in absolute terms, middle-aged people with diabetes are more vulnerable than people of the same age with no glucose tolerance problems. As determined by experts, a 50-year-old patient with type 2 diabetes has the same chance of dying from COVID-19 with a 66-year-old person without diabetes. However, this difference decreases with age: the probability of dying is equal for a 70-year-old with diabetes and a 78-year-old without diabetes.
While people with non-insulin-dependent diabetes are a priority group for vaccination in the UK and Germany, this is not the case in many other countries, although type 2 diabetes is widespread and affects many populations. The authors of the paper advise people with metabolic disease to get the vaccine as soon as possible when it is available to them.