Letter to the Editor: COVID-19 in patients with diabetes: Risk factors that increase morbidity

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: David C. Klonoff, Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, San Mateo, CA; Guillermo Umpierrez, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-07-01
• Publisher: Elsevier Inc.
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2020.154224
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental
• Volume: 108
• Start Page: 154224
• End Page: 154224
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: COVID-19; Diabetes; Telemedicine; Endocrinology & Metabolism; Risk; Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Corticosteroid
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Immunology

Abstract

We agree with the conclusion by Dr. Hill and colleagues in their commentary “COVID-19 in Patients with Diabetes”, that for patients with COVID-19 infections, the presence of diabetes increases the risk for medical complications including death [1]. They appropriately stressed the importance of glycemic control during COVID-19 infections because hyperglycemia may adversely affect pulmonary function and immune response. There are many reasons why COVID-19 patients might have worse glycemic control or be at higher risk than they were in their pre-Covid-19 state.