Financial Express: The Diabetic Community and COVID-19

COVID-19 exposed the vulnerability of people with comorbidities, how prepared are we to protect the diabetic population?

Financial Express, Sayantani Chatterjee, 9 April 2021

(Image courtesy of Reuters)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of patients with diabetes mellitus or most commonly referred to as diabetes. A Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology study which referred to over 61 million medical records in the U.K. mentions in its findings that 30% of COVID-19 deaths occurred in people with type 1 and type 2 varieties. Diabetes people are more prone to being infected, as elevated blood sugar levels can impair a patient’s immune system.

This is particularly worrisome for India with a high diabetes burden – a 2019 survey which maps out the top ten countries for people aged between 20–79 years with diabetes, India ranks second just after China, with a diabetes burden of 77 million.