Strict lockdowns in England alone caused more than 3,000 additional deaths due to diabetes, local analysts determined. Patients with this metabolic disorder did not actively go through examinations and tests.
In England alone, more than 3,000 diabetics could die due to a lack of timely tests and meetings with doctors in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. NHS experts reviewed the medical records of more than 3 million diabetic patients and found that in the first year of COVID-19, when hospitals were predominantly repurposed to treat patients with coronavirus, diabetics drastically reduced their appointments with their doctors and required tests.
Patients with diabetes should be sure to have regular check-ups and blood tests, which can reveal heart problems, infections, and other changes in the body that can cause life-threatening consequences. But only 26.5% of English people with diabetes completed a full screening in 2020/21. A year earlier, their number was 48%. Thus, the death rate from diabetes has doubled, as many doctors have switched to remote work, canceling all live meetings with patients.
The study authors compared diabetic deaths over a 15-week period in the summer of 2021 and over the same period in 2019. It was found that non-coronavirus deaths among diabetic patients increased by 11% over this period, which amounted to an additional 3,075 deaths against the expected number. Unfortunately, this also applies to many other patients with a variety of diseases who did not meet with doctors on time due to a violation of the traditional regimen of medical care. (READ MORE)