Covid lockdowns blamed for 3,000 diabetes deaths in England, NHS report finds

More than 3,000 diabetics in England may have died due to a lack of health checks during the first year of Covid, a major NHS study warns. They found non-Covid related deaths among diabetes patients rose 11 per cent over this period, an extra 3,075 fatalities than would normally be expected. An NHS analysis found the proportion of diabetes patients in England who got all eight of their annual health checks for their condition fell 44.8 per cent during lockdown Researchers say if tests had been carried out at normal levels an extra 3,000 non-Covid deaths among diabetes patients would not have occured The authors, which include Professor Jonathan Valabhji, the NHS's national clinical director for diabetes and obesity, linked the deaths to the fall in health checks during lockdown. An analysis of nearly 200 studies by researchers from Leeds University found deaths among people hospitalised due to severe heart problems jumped 17 per cent in two years. The diabetes analysis comes just a day after another study found global heart attack deaths soared by a fifth during the pandemic, An analysis of nearly 200 studies by researchers from Leeds University found deaths among people hospitalised due to severe heart problems jumped 17 per cent in two years.