COVID-19 and diabetes in 2020: a systematic review

Abstract

Attempts were made to review the literature on diabetic patients who experience complications when they contract COVID-19, and to determine whether ethnicity and other risk factors play an important role in the development of symptoms and their severity, as well as responding to medications. A literature search was performed using five keywords, namely COVID-19, diabetes, ethnicity, medications, and risk factors between January 2019 and December 2020 using electronic databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Springer Link, and Scopus. Forty studies were included. The review indicated that diabetes was a significant risk factor for poorer outcomes and increased mortality associated with COVID-19. There were several risk factors for diabetic patients that increased their likelihood of poorer outcomes associated with COVID-19. These included black and Asian ethnicity, male sex with high BMI. In conclusion, patients with diabetes of black or Asian origin with high BMI, male sex, and older age had an increased risk of poorer outcomes associated with COVID-19. This highlights the importance of considering the history of the patient in prioritising care and treatment.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• Diabetes
• Ethnicity
• Risk factors

Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Gillian Hawksworth for proofreading the paper.

Author contributions

All authors contributed to all aspects of the study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

None.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Ethics Panel of the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Huddersfield indicated that ethical approval was not required for this review.

Consent for publication

All authors give consent for publication.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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