Diabetes and COVID-19: A Tale of 2 Pandemics

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Ali A Rizvi, Emory University; Andrei Janez, University Clinical Center Ljubljana; Wael Al Mahmeed, Cleveland Clin Abu Dhabi; Manfredi Rizzo, University of South Carolina
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-07-01
• Publisher: LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/FJC.0000000000001047
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR PHARMACOLOGY
• Volume: 78
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 1
• End Page: 2
• Keywords: Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems; Pharmacology & Pharmacy; Science & Technology; Cardiovascular System & Cardiology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Sebastian Junger's book “The Perfect Storm” describes a combination of unfortunate events, leading to a tragedy at sea for the fishing vessel Andrea Gail.1 Analogously, communities worldwide are faced with the unleashing of a virulent and contagious infection on a background of increasingly widespread metabolic factors created by modern living. Individual and public health trends caused by sedentary and calorie-rich lifestyles are contributing to vast increases in obesity, metabolic syndrome, and glucose intolerance. The latter factors by themselves are the reasons for diabetes to be designated as a major public health issue by the WHO,2 and future predictions for the global diabetes burden are nothing short of dire. In this prevailing atmosphere of chronic but simmering unhealthy trends in public health, the SARS-CoV-2 has found fertile ground to gain a lethal foothold. Beyond doubt, gathering evidence clearly points to the combination of diabetes and COVID-19, resulting in potentially devastating consequences in morbidity and mortality.3