December 7, 2022 – Before COVID swooped in and grabbed the No. 7 slot on the top 10 causes of morbidity and mortality, diabetes was No. 7. In the 2020 data, diabetes dropped to No. 8 solely due to the intrusion of COVID in the statistics.
How do changes in diabetes treatment and management influence the overall U.S. death rate, and what can we in the med/surg industry do about it? The magic wand impact can and will help in two ways. First, diabetes is associated with several of the other leading causes of death, including COVID, heart disease, kidney disease and stroke. Diabetes and its comorbidities represent over 47.3% of all causes of death in the U.S.
Secondly, the pandemic has reversed long-standing trends of reductions in morbidity and mortality and shows the disturbing impact the COVID pandemic had. As disturbing as it may be, most morbidities and mortalities have increased in that time, reversing long-standing trends. Heart disease is up 4.1%, stroke is up 4.9%. Influenza (which has been behind the curtain since the pandemic began) is up 5.7% and diabetes is up 14.8%, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Read Jim Poggi’s latest column in the December issue of Repertoire Magazine.