Covid quarantines responsible for 3,000 diabetes deaths in England, NHS report says

A major NHS study has warned that more than 3,000 diabetics in England may have died in the first year of Covid due to lack of health checks.

Evaluation of more than 3 million diabetes patients found a huge drop in critical controls and testing for diabetic patients in 2020 after the first two blocks.

Diabetic patients should have exams and tests for heart problems, infections, or other changes that could be fatal.

However, the researchers found that only 26.5% received all checks in the UK 2020/21, up from 48% the previous year.

They said diabetes had taken a “double fatal blow” when the NHS switched to remote work and routine appointments were canceled to focus on Covid.

The study, led by NHS heads, compared diabetic deaths over a 15-week period in the summer of 2021 with the same period in 2019.

They found that the number of non-Covid-related deaths among diabetic patients increased by 11% during this period, with 3,075 more deaths than would normally be expected.

Diabetes charities said the study showed that patients were “push behind the line” during the pandemic and suffered “absolutely devastating consequences” as a result.

The researchers say there would be no more 3,000 non-Covid deaths among diabetic patients if the tests were done at normal levels.

The authors, including Professor Jonathan Valabhji, NHS National Diabetes and Obesity Clinical Director, attributed the deaths to declining health checks during the lockdown.

The study also found that patients who did not undergo all diabetes health checks prior to the onset of the pandemic were 66% more likely to die than those who did.

Overall, the study found that only 26.5% of diabetics received all eight controls, compared to 48.1% of patients in the previous year, with a 44.8% reduction in test coverage.

Comparing death records, the researchers looked at deaths among people with diabetes between July and October in both 2021 and 2019.

In 2021, 30,118 non-covid deaths occurred in people with diabetes.

Analysis of death data covers a period of only 15 weeks in the UK, meaning that the UK budget is likely to be much higher.

Chris Askew, CEO of Diabetes UK, commented on the research: The Telegraph: ‘This sobering study highlights in detail what we’ve been saying for a long time about delayed diabetes treatment.

Diabetes is severe and missed routine diabetes checkups can be absolutely devastating. If people with diabetes don’t get the care they need, they can risk life-changing complications and, unfortunately, premature death.”

Professor Valabhji also added, “This research highlights the importance of annual assessments and ongoing supportive management for people with diabetes to properly manage their condition.” said.

“The NHS has made significant progress in increasing the number of people with diabetes completing all pre-pandemic care processes, and data released last month shows we are again moving in the right direction.

“Increasing these numbers remains our top priority and we are supporting local systems with £36m in funding to help them increase their adoption and tackle health inequalities.”

NHS analysis published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology †

There are an estimated 3.9 million people in the UK with diabetes, a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar to become too high.

In the United States, the condition affects approximately 37.3 million Americans, about one-tenth of the population.

The diabetes analysis comes just a day after another study found that the number of heart attack deaths worldwide had increased by a fifth amid the pandemic.

An analysis of nearly 200 studies by researchers from the University of Leeds found that deaths among people admitted to hospital for serious heart problems increased by 17% in two years.

Patients also waited more than an hour than usual for heart attacks and heart attacks between December 2019 and December 2021. And the number of heart surgeries performed worldwide decreased by 34%.