Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the pooled estimate of diabetes prevalence in young (<50 years) versus elderly (>50 years) COVID-19 cohorts.
Methods: Studies published between December-2019 and March-2020 reporting demographic and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 cases were identified. A total of 11 studies included accounting for 2084 COVID-19 patients.
Results: The overall prevalence of diabetes in COVID-19 patients with a mean age>50 years was 13.2%, whereas studies with relatively younger patients (mean age <50 years) had a pooled prevalence of 9.0% CONCLUSION: The overall prevalence of diabetes in COVID-19 patients was found to be 13.2% with studies including relatively elderly patients showing higher rates of diabetes. The intermingled effects of diabetes with other cardiovascular comorbidities warrant age-specific outcomes data including the impact of ongoing antidiabetic treatment.
Keywords: Antidiabetic treatment; COVID-19; Diabetes mellitus; Elderly; Prevalence; Type-2 diabetes.
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