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A recently published Israeli study shows that high blood sugar levels in the blood before infection – even in those who don’t have diabetes – correlate with a higher risk of severe cases of COVID-19.
The study built on existing data that showed diabetes was one of the comorbidities in which people were at higher risk for severe COVID-19 infection, likely resulting in at least one hospitalization. However, this latest research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Meuhedet HMO, Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) and Hadassah Medical Center represented the first study to explore the correlation between sugar levels and the risk of COVID morbidity. -19 severe regardless of diagnosis of diabetes.
While the highest risk for existing patients diagnosed with diabetes to contract severe COVID-19 (1 in 4) was found in patients with low sugar values - below 80 mg / dl, the risk is higher. lower (1 in 12) was found in patients with sugar values of 106-125 mg / dl. (The standard blood sugar level for an adult is 70-100 mg / dL, after fasting at least eight hours).
For patients without a diagnosis of diabetes, the higher the sugar values, the greater the risk of severe COVID-19. Patients with fasting sugar values of 105-125 mg / dl were one and a half times more likely to develop severe COVID-19 than patients with sugar values below 105. Patients with sugar values of 125-140 mg / dl were twice as likely to develop complications from COVID-19 as patients with sugar values below 105.
The study examined all Mehudet HMO members over the age of 18, including some 37,000 subjects (16.7% of the total group) who recorded a positive COVID-19 PCR test between March and October 2020.
“The aim of the study was to locate risk factors for severe morbidity related to COVID-19 that could be treated in advance, so that we can educate the general public about these factors,” said Dr Michal Shauly-Aharonov of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at JCT and the Hebrew University School of Public Health in a statement from the Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT). “The localization of the factors linked to severe morbidity and mortality, God forbid, is important mainly to shed light on populations at risk, so that they are given priority in vaccination. To our knowledge, no population-based study has been published previously to correlate pre-infection glucose levels with the level of risk of contracting COVID-19 in patients with or without diabetes.
Dr Orit Bernholtz-Gulchin, head of the Meuhedet HMO Regional Diabetes Clinic, said the findings meant that the medical community’s focus “should be on preventing hypoglycemia (a condition in which blood sugar levels are low). blood sugar drops dramatically from normative levels) in populations found to be at risk for severe COVID-19 comorbidity. ”
SEE ALSO: COVID-19 Antiviral Drug Reduces Inflammation in 48 Hours, Israeli Study Finds
Research has shown that COVID-19 patients with diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension and other comorbidities – as well as old age – could help it to survive. develop into a more serious and potentially fatal illness. . Doctors and healthcare professionals have been aware of this since the start of the pandemic.
The researchers also recommended paying special attention to patients without a diagnosis of diabetes who experience abnormal sugar levels while fasting or have elevated HbA1C hemoglobin levels, as well as low-sugar diabetics, who have also an increased risk of complications from COVID-19.
“The study shows very clearly how much can be learned from a continuous and quality medical recording, like the one we have in the Israeli health system,” said Professor Ora Paltiel of the School of Health. of the Hebrew University.
Meanwhile, Israeli data from the COVID-19 booster vaccine program, which the government launched on August 1 and which has administered vaccines to nearly three million people so far, will be used to guide counselors in vaccines to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The data will be peer reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine, a key step in helping the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologics Advisory Committee at its September 17 meeting. Their findings will be critical to whether the United States deploys its own booster vaccination program.
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