The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic, the highest risk level in the infectious disease alert phase, on 11 March 2020. In the Western Pacific Region (WPR), 192,016 confirmed cases with 7125 deaths had been reported as of 8 June 2020. In people with diabetes COVID-19 can be more difficult to treat due to the wide fluctuations in blood glucose levels or presence of comorbidities such as diabetes complications, including cardiovascular disease and renal damage, which are recognized risks for adverse outcomes. National diabetes associations and governments have established guidelines for subjects with diabetes in relation to COVID-19, and are trying to supply emergency and their regularly required medical products for them. The WPR is so large and composed of such diverse countries and COVID-19 situations, no one conclusion or program applies. Instead we could see a diverse COVID-19 pandemic profile in the WPR, and several creative diagnostic and therapeutic measures undertaken. This includes drive-through screening facilities, high-speed RT-PCR technologies, convalescent patients' plasma therapy, which potentially had some positive contributions in combatting COVID-19 in the WPR as well as globally. Although the numbers of confirmed cases are currently decreasing in the region, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, and many experts are recommending to prepare measures for potential second or third waves of COVID-19.
BackgroundPrevious studies have suggested that vitamin D deficiency might increase the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus(DM). However, few studies have examined whether vitamin D continues to affect glucose control after DM diagnosis. Therefore, we examined the association between vitamin D and glucose in nondiabetics and DM patients.
MethodsWe analyzed data for 32,943 adults aged 19 years and older from the 2008 to 2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Vitamin D levels were determined using the 25hydroxyvitamin D concentration, and patients were grouped into one of three categories according to those results. DM was defined as a fasting glucose level ≥ 126 mg/dL, current use of DM medications or insulin injections, or a self-reported diagnosis of DM by a doctor.
ResultsIn male DM patients, hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c) level increased significantly as vitamin D levels
E p u ba h e a d o f p r i n t 2 became severely deficient. Among the abnormal HbA1c subgroups of males and postmenopausal females, HbA1c levels were significantly higher in the severe vitamin D deficiency subgroup (p for trend = 0.0044 and 0.0219 for males and postmenopausal females, respectively). There were significant differences between abnormal HbA1c subgroups and normal HbA1c subgroups in both males and females. Regardless of sex or menopause status, however, there was no significant association between vitamin D and fasting glucose in fasting glucose subgroups.
ConclusionsMales and females in the abnormal HbA1c subgroups showed markedly elevated blood glucose when they also had vitamin D deficiency. Furthermore, there was a more distinct difference in the HbA1c subgroups than in the fasting glucose subgroups.
Previous studies on dietary iodine intake and the risk of papillary thyroid cancer(PTC) have demonstrated inconsistent results. We aimed to evaluate the association between the urinary iodine concentration(UIC), a surrogate biomarker for dietary iodine intake, and the risk of thyroid cancer stratified by gender and age in an iodine-sufficient area. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in Seoul, South Korea. A total of 492 cases of newly diagnosed PTC and 595 controls were included. Compared with the lowest quartile of creatine-adjusted UIC(< 159.3 µg/gCr), the highest quartile(≥ 1037.3 µg/gCr) showed an increased risk of PTC(odds ratio[OR] = 1.49, 95% confidence interval[CI]: 1.04–2.13), especially in those who were < 45 years old(ptrend = 0.01) than in those who were ≥ 45 years old(ptrend = 0.48). For those who were < 45 years old, the positive association between creatinine-adjusted UIC and the risk of PTC was observed in both men (q4 vs. q1, OR = 4.27, 95% CI: 1.14–18.08) and women (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.04–3.78). For those who were ≥ 45 years old, no association was found in any gender. Creatinine-adjusted UIC was positively associated with the risk of PTC especially in those who were younger than 45-years for both men and women.
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