New research into Type 2 diabetes and COVID-19 is establishing the risks across different age groups, enabling policymakers to design interventions more effectively

People aged 40 with Type 2 diabetes face a “disproportionately increased risk of dying from COVID-19” – equivalent to the risk faced by a non-diabetic 20 years older.

The finding comes from a study led by researchers at the University of Exeter, which also shows that the risk of death from COVID-19 among those with Type 2 increases the younger they are, compared with people of a similar age without the condition.

Published in the journal Diabetologia, the study – The disproportionate excess mortality risk of COVID-19 in younger people with diabetes – is based on an analysis of three large-scale datasets and triangulates the evidence on heterogeneity of diabetes effect, by age, on COVID-19 mortality from large population-based and critical care-based studies.

Challenging the young
“For a person aged 40 years with Type 2 diabetes, additional mortality risk is equivalent to around 20 years of chronological age, meaning that mortality risk is similar to that of a 60-year-old person without diabetes,” reads the study.

“For a person aged 70 years with diabetes, the additional mortality risk from diabetes is equivalent to an additional eight years of chronological age, meaning that their ‘COVID-age’ is 78 years.”

Although not the only cause, obesity is believed to account for up to 80 per cent of the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, while research suggests that obese people are up to 80 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those with a BMI of less than 22.

The UK has one of the highest levels of obesity in Europe, with more than 1 in 4 (28.1 per cent) adults obese and nearly two out of three (63.4 per cent) people overweight.

More: HCMmag.com/diabetes