Nearly three in 10 patients with diabetes either dies or requires mechanical ventilation within seven days of being admitted with COVID-19, French doctors report.

In the largest study to date of diabetes as a comorbidity in COVID-19 infection, outcomes were reported for 1317 adults with diabetes admitted with the infection to 53 French hospitals between 10 and 31 March.

Most patients had pre-existing type 2 diabetes (88.5%) and 3% had type 1 diabetes. The mean age was 70 years and mean BMI was 28.4kg/m2, while microvascular and macrovascular diabetic complications were present in 47% and 41% of cases, respectively.

Within a week of admission, 29% of patients had reached the primary outcome — having either died or been intubated for mechanical ventilation, reported the authors of the study, dubbed CORONADO, in Diabetologica.