Correlation of Diabetes Mellitus and COVID-19: A Review

Abstract

In the early pandemic, it was brought to attention that individuals with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) are prone to a more severe form of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). With this in mind, healthcare professionals need to be vigilant about their patients’ medical history in these challenging times as this could change the course of treatment and follow-ups for someone with COVID-19 and DM. Moreover, this is of utmost importance as the coronavirus is deemed to thrive in the elevated blood glucose environment. Though there is little known about the best medications for glycemic control in COVID-19, however, there are multiple other factors that can be beneficial in exploring for management in DM patients who are infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and some of these factors are as follow adequate glycemic control, medication dosages adjustment, diet, physical guidelines, thromboembolism prophylaxis, and empirical treatments for the possible co-infections. We conducted a literature review of publicly available information to summarize knowledge about the correlation between Diabetes Mellitus and the COVID-19 infections. The main objective of this manuscript is to provide a brief overview of the potential pathophysiologic correlation of DM and COVID-19, optimal management and prevention.

COVID-19 Syndemic: Convergence of COVID-19, Pulmonary Aspergillosis (CAPA), Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, and Arterial Hypertension

“…Because our patients had ongoing Probable CAPA by serology, imaging and clinical criteria (2020 ISHAM/ECMM consensus definitions), none of them received piperacillin–tazobactam for a false-positive in GM test [ 4 , 5 ]. Moreover, our patients were immunocompromised to different degrees according to their NCDs, and people with COVID-19 and concurrent diabetes have worse prognoses and mortality rates [ 6 , 22 , 44 , 45 ].…”