Professor Sarah Harper comments in MailOnline on the new study, published in the journal Diabetologia, on the effects of diabetes on hospitalised Covid-19 patients.
"The findings show similarities with our understanding of the impact of Covid 19 in the UK", said Harper.
"Being male, over 70, with a high BMI and diabetes, all increase the risk of becoming ill, needing intensive care and, sadly, dying from the Covid 19 disease," she told MailOnline.
"Indeed, these are all risk factors for increasing the likelihood of death from other causes."
"UK data shows that regardless of age, having diabetes doubles the risk of death from disease, though that risk is very small in the young and middle age. Similarly is being overweight - so that a very overweight or obese British man in his early 60's has the same mortality risk - or chance of dying - as a slim man in his early 70's. And we know that being overweight increases your chances of getting type 2 diabetes."
► Read the full article: One in ten Covid-19 patients who have diabetes and are hospitalised with the infection die within a week, study reveals
