“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to roil the world’s healthcare systems, endocrinologists may have unique insights that could save lives and improve outcomes in these patients who present with elevated glucose levels and other underlying comorbidities such as obesity and diabetes.”
Endocrine News adds, “Patients with diabetes who contract COVID-19 are at a higher risk for hospitalization and even mortality.” Endocrine News highlights a paper published in Endocrine Reviews last month that examined “how the pathophysiology of diabetes and obesity might intersect with COVID-19 biology and found key shared pathways and mechanisms linked to the development and treatment of” T2D.
Essential Points
- ACE2 and DPP4 are coronavirus receptors.
- ACE2 and DPP4 control inflammation, and cardiometabolic physiology.
- DPP4 is a MERS-CoV but not a SARS-Cov-2 receptor.
- DPP4 inhibitors do not meaningfully modify immune response in human subjects.
- SARS-CoV-2 hospitalizations are more common in people with diabetes and obesity.
- Acute SARS-Co-V-2 illness requires re-evaluation of medications used for type 2 diabetes.
- Insulin is the glucose-lowering therapy of choice for acute coronavirus-related illness in hospital.
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