even without a
diabetes diagnosis, patients with abnormally high blood sugar face worse covid-19 outcomes and a higher risk of death, according to a new study.in what’s being called the largest study of its kind, researchers in spain looked into the data of more than 11,000 non-critically ill coronavirus hospital patients across the country. they found that those with hyperglycemia, the term for high blood glucose, were more than twice as likely to die from covid-19 (41.4 per cent) than those who had normal blood sugar levels (15.7 per cent).the higher risk of death was also “independent of a
diabetes diagnosis,” according to a
news release about the study, which was
recently published in the annals of medicine. patients with hyperglycemia were also more likely to be on a ventilator or require icu care.the doctors involved in the research want blood sugar, regardless of the patient’s history with diabetes, to be front in centre with covid hospitalizations.“screening for hyperglycemia in patients without diabetes and early treatment should be mandatory in the management of patients hospitalized with covid-19,” says study coordinator javier carrasco from juan ramon jimenez university hospital.the relationship between covid-19 and diabetes, or hyperglycemia, is still unclear. but the researchers suggest it may be an “inflammatory bystander” or be somehow directly related to complications that can lead to a covid-related death.at the onset of the pandemic,
diabetes was flagged among the serious risk factors for people infected with the virus. other researchers are even looking into the whether covid-19 has a more direct link in
causing diabetes in otherwise healthy patients. dr. francesco rubino, a diabetes researcher and chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at king’s college london,
told reuters in october, that “covid could be causing diabetes from scratch.”for people with a diabetes diagnosis who are experiencing covid-19 symptoms,
diabetes canadaadvises “you need to continue taking your medication and contact your primary care physician or local
public health authority. for those who routinely monitor their blood glucose, on the advice of their clinical team, they should continue to do this more often.”diabetes canada describes the
symptoms of hyperglycemia as feeling tired, thirst and urinating more frequently, especially at night. “high blood sugar can result when food, activity and medications are not balanced. high blood sugar may happen when you are sick or under stress.”
if you or someone you care about is living with diabetes, connecting with a support network can help to not only learn ways to better manage their health, but also share experiences with others. some canadian resources include diabetes canada.don’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter covid life.
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