Study: Vaccinated patients have lower risk of long COVID – University of Minnesota Twin Cities

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Rates of death, vision loss, and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions among diabetes patients spiked during the pandemic, finds a systematic review of 138 studies from around the world.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) and the University of Leicester in England analyzed data from 138 studies on the effects of COVID-related disruptions on the clinical outcomes of diabetes patients published from January 2020 to June 2023. The studies, which included more than 1 million diabetes patients, compared prepandemic with pandemic periods.

The studies were from North America (39 studies), Western Europe (39), Asia (17), Eastern Europe (14), South America (4), Egypt (1), Australia (1), and multiple regions (33).

The review is published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

The six studies that examined all-cause death and the 13 on diabetes-related death showed consistent increases in both, with six finding increases in vision loss. Adult and mixed samples indicated a rise in the frequency or severity of diabetic ketoacidosis (a potentially life-threatening complication)some cases due to new-onset diabetesamong children and adolescents but not adults (69 studies). Data from 35 studies suggested a decline in adult hospitalization but higher rates of diabetes-related PICU admissions.

The data on pediatric ICU admissions and pediatric diabetes ketoacidosis is probably the most striking thing that comes out of this review.

Rates of new-onset type 1 diabetes were higher than expected, and children with this type of disease were much sicker during than before the pandemic. Pandemic-related effects were most evident in females, younger people, and racial minority groups. "Further studies are needed to investigate the longer-term impact of the pandemic on potential differential impacts, which risk further exacerbating existing inequalities within people with diabetes," the authors wrote.

In a UMass press release, co-lead author Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, DPhil, assistant professor of health policy at UMass, said "The data on pediatric ICU admissions and pediatric diabetes ketoacidosis is probably the most striking thing that comes out of this review," she said. "It was very consistent across countries, and a pediatric ICU admission is a major event for kids and their families."

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Study: Vaccinated patients have lower risk of long COVID - University of Minnesota Twin Cities