Increase in Diabetes Mortality Associated With COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.
Jinjun Ran, Shi Zhao, Lefei Han, Yang Ge, Ka Chun Chong, Wangnan Cao, Shengzhi Sun
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has claimed a notable number of deaths in the U.S. The COVID-19 death toll could not wholly explain the substantial increase in all-cause mortality during the pandemic (1), suggesting that the pandemic has indirect impacts on susceptible populations with underlying medical problems, such as cardiovascular diseases (2).Diabetes is a chronic illness that requires continuing close monitoring, primary care support, and medication.Due to fear of COVID-19 infection and lack of health care resources, patients with diabetes might die prematurely without timely treatment.Accordingly, we aimed to assess whether diabetes mortality changed during the pandemic period in the U.S.We obtained weekly death data between 1 January 2015 and 2 November 2020