🔬Flawed CDC Study Shows 2.5 X Increased Chance Of Diabetes After COVID-19
The CDC usually releases a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report where they analyze many different diseases and their effects. Essentially, the reports serve as an epidemiological digest available for free to the public.
Unfortunately on 1/7/22, CDC released a very flaw study in their digest showing that people aged 18 or less are 2.5 times more likely to develop diabetes 30 days or more after COVID-19 diagnosis compared to those who suffered other kinds of pre-pandemic acute respiratory infections or had a negative COVID test. Here’s why that is terrible science.
To begin let’s set the table. The study in question examined 2 medical claims data bases named IQVIA and HealthVerity. From IQVIA, people who did not receive a COVID-19 test during the pandemic, who did receive a positive test, or who received another pre-pandemic diagnose of an acute respiratory disease (ARI) were compared to those from the HealthVerity database that did have a COVID-19 test (RT-PCR) during the pandemic. Well, here are the results.
The IQVIA group:
68 out of 80,000 (0.08%) WITH COVID positive test ended up with diabetes
132 out of 404,465 (0.03%) WITHOUT COVID positive test ended up with diabetes
227 out of 404,465 (0.06%) WITH ARI ended up with diabetes
The HealthVerity group:
1,120 out of 439,439 (0.25%) WITH COVID ended up with diabetes
With all of that, the CDC made the devastating statement that your chance of getting diabetes increases 2.5 times after having COVID if you’re 18+. Sounds like something to worry about right? 2.5X increase?! WRONG.
💡 As you can see, the numbers are tiny. In other words only a fraction of a percent of people who tested positive for COVID-19 0.08% or 68 total people in IQVIA ended up with diabetes. Compared to only 0.25% or 1,120 total people in HealthVerity. Well, even though the affected number is so small, 0.25% is still 2.5 times higher than 0.08%. Do you see how they’re playing with the numbers?
Next this study doesn’t take into account socioeconomic status. Those that are most affected by diabetes are often lower income. There is no adjustment made in this study for that. The only separation seems to be between male and female.
Moreover, the data in question only uses reported COVID cases, a sample isn’t used. That’s bad because a majority of kids that had COVID never reported or tested because symptoms were generally mild and passed off as a common cold.
So why? Not quite sure, but this much could be said. If the urgency of the pandemic can’t be kept alive in light of the omicron variant being substantially less harmful overall (that evidenced by less oxygen usage at hospitals, less vent beds occupied, less severity of disease, and less death), emergency use authorization can’t be renewed for vaccine manufactures or used to approve new COVID drugs.
LETS CONNECT: