We hear Youth with Diabetes’ position statement on whether sending your child with diabetes back to school is a good idea.
Two large studies from England have just been released on COVID19 and diabetes. Because of this new information, Youth with Diabetes is adjusting our recommendations about going back to school. Please use this new advice to help you decide if you will be sending your child back to school.
The studies show that people with Type 1 diabetes are more at risk of dying from COVID-19 than those with Type 2 diabetes.
After taking into account age, sex, heart disease, socioeconomic status and race, people with Type 1 diabetes are almost three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those without diabetes. (Hazard ratio of 2,86).
If your HbA1c is more than 10,0%, you are twice more likely to die than if your HbA1c was less than 7,5%. (Hazard ratio of 2,19).
It is important to note that age is the most important risk factor, even if you have diabetes. In these studies, no one with Type 1 diabetes under the age of 50 has died. Most of the COVID-19 deaths in Type 1 diabetes have been in the age group of over 70 years.
Other risk factors that contribute to increased risk of death for people with Type 1 diabetes are obesity and chronic kidney disease.
All this information means that you can reduce your risk by getting your blood glucose level under control and losing weight if you are obese.
Here are the links to read the full research articles:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/valabhji-COVID-19-and-Diabetes-Paper-1.pdf
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