How Diabetes affects the outcome of COVID-19 Infection

Abstract

Current literature considers that individuals who have Type 1 and 2 diabetes are a vulnerable group and are at great risk of contracting COVID-19, risking increased complications, and higher mortality rates. Insufficient scientific research data can result in uncertain conclusions. Due to great necessity for quantitative descriptions of trends and predictions, researchers were forced to make assumptions to fill data gaps. The goal of this paper was to minimize uncertainty in the reviewed data outcomes. Varying results could have occurred from lack of research details, confounding factors, and assumptions made throughout data analysis. To resolve these issues, our study is composed of three parts: biological analysis of COVID-19 infection, summary of multiple sources to demonstrate data correlation, consistency with biological conclusions, and quantitative characterization. This study compares calculations of mortality odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) fully adjusted for other comorbidities and those not fully adjusted for other comorbidities. Overall diabetes OR not fully adjusted is 3.85, and the fully adjusted one is 1.28. The Type 1 diabetes OR not fully adjusted is 3.51, and the fully adjusted one is 2.39 – 2.86. The Type 2 diabetes OR not fully adjusted is 2.03, and the fully adjusted one is 1.37-1.8. With age, mortality rates for diabetics increase significantly, especially with the presence of other underlying conditions. As an example, the HR calculated for individuals with impaired renal function - eGFR <15 in Type 1 diabetics is 8.35, and in Type 2 diabetics is 4.91.