Impact of telemedicine on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Background: The lockdown at the start of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Saudi Arabia (March 2020 to June 2020) shifted routine in-person care for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to telemedicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact telemedicine had during this period on glycemic control (HbA1c) in patients with T2DM. Methods: 4,266 patients with T2DM were screened from five Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Age, gender, body mass index (BMI), HbA1c (before and after the COVID-19 lockdown), duration of T2DM, comorbidities and antidiabetic medications data were obtained. Mean and standard deviation of differences in HbA1c were calculated to assess the impact of telemedicine intervention. Correlations between clinically significant variances (when change in the level is ≥0.5%) in HbA1c with demographics and clinical characteristic data were determined using chi square test. Results: Most of the participants were Saudis (97.7%) with 59.7% female and 56.4% ≥60 years of age. Obesity was 63.8%, dyslipidemia 91%, and hypertension 70%. Mean HbA1c of all patients slightly rose from 8.52% ± 1.5% before lockdown to 8.68% ± 1.6% after lockdown. There were n=1,064 patients (24.9%) whose HbA1c decreased by ≥0.5%, n =1,574 patients whose HbA1c increased by ≥0.5% (36.9%), and n =1,628 patients whose HbA1c changed by <0.5% in either direction (38.2%). More males had significant improvements in glycemia compared to females (28.1% vs 22.8%, p<0.0001), as were individuals below the age of 60 years (28.1% vs 22.5%, p<0.0001). Hypertensive individuals were less likely than non-hypertensive to have glycemic improvement (23.7% vs 27.9%, p=0.015). More patients on sulfonylureas had improvements in HbA1c (42.3% vs 37.9%, p=0.032), whereas patients on insulin had higher HbA1c (62.7% vs 56.2%, p=0.001). HbA1c changes were independent of BMI, duration of disease, hyperlipidemia, heart and kidney diseases. Conclusion: Telemedicine was helpful in delivering care to T2DM patients during COVID-19 lockdown, with 63.1% of patients maintaining HbA1c and improving glycemia. More males than females showed improvements. However, the HbA1c levels in this cohort of patients pre- and post-lockdown were unsatisfactorily high, and may be due to in part lifestyle, age, education, and hypertension.

HbA1c measurement may save COVID-19 inpatients from overlooked diabetes.

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: To investigate overlooked diabetes in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 462 COVID-19 inpatients were included in this retrospective study. The presence of diabetes before COVID-19 admission, and the HbA1c and blood glucose levels at admission were examined. RESULTS: Of the 462 patients, 116 had diabetes. Seventy-six patients had been diagnosed with diabetes before COVID-19 admission, and 40 patients were diagnosed for the first time. Of the patients with diabetes 72% required insulin. Patients with diabetes were significantly (P < 0.05) older, more likely to be male, heavier, and showed a lower eGFR. Patients with overlooked diabetes showed a lower HbA1c (average 7.1% vs 7.5%), a lower casual blood glucose (average 157 vs 179 mg/dL), and they used less insulin per day during hospitalization (average 16.0 units vs 34.5 units) than patients with previously diagnosed diabetes. Patients with overlooked diabetes tended to have more severe COVID-19 than those with pre-diagnosed diabetes. Multivariable logistic regression analyses showed that the increased odds ratios (ORs) of aggravation in all patients with COVID-19 were associated with age [OR 1.04], BMI [OR 1.05], and diabetes [OR 2.15]. The risk factors for aggravation in patients with COVID-19 and diabetes were age [OR 1.05] and HbA1c [OR 1.45]. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes is a predictor of COVID-19 aggravation. Furthermore, in COVID-19 patients with diabetes, high HbA1c levels are a risk factor for severe COVID-19. A total of 8.7% of COVID-19 inpatients were diagnosed with diabetes after HbA1c was measured on admission. Therefore, it is important to measure HbA1c in COVID-19 patients.

Vicious cycle between severity of childhood obesity and pandemic: Potential impact of metformin.

Introduction: COVID-19 is currently a global pandemic, and initial reports of identified COVID-19 lockdown and limitations can adversely affect childhood obesity and metabolic health. Studies conducted in recent years have shown that the rate of obesity in childhood increases with the changing lifestyle with the pandemic. However, there is insufficient data on how the situation changes and how metabolism is affected in those, who are already obese. The aim of this paper was to determine how the pandemic affects the current status, severity, and metabolic parameters of obese children. We also attempted to show potential effects of metformin therapy. Methods: The study was conducted with the participation of 101 patients with obesity (The mean age was 13.6 ± 2.2). The patients were evaluated using pre- and post-lockdown data with an interval of 6 months. The new classification system was used to determine the severity of obesity. All anthropometrics, metabolic parameters (Blood glucose, insulin, HbA1C, lipid profile), lifestyle, and comorbidities were evaluated by dividing the participants into various subgroups according to their obesity and metformin usage status. Results: Our data shows that weight, height, BMI, BMI-SD, and BMI percentiles all increased significantly, after the pandemic started. The severity of obesity increased statistically (overweight decreases and class 2 obesity increases, p = 0.001). No change was observed in metabolic parameters. Surprisingly, a significant increase was observed in insulin and HOMA-IR values in the group with-metformin. Discussion: Most studies about childhood obesity have only focused on obesity increases and pandemic relation. Our study showed that although there was no significant change in metabolic status at the end of a lockdown period, there was a serious increase in the severity of obesity. Metformin use had no effect on either obesity or metabolic parameters, and even an increase in insulin resistance indicators was observed.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Blood Glucose: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is considered a common comorbidity of COVID-19, which has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic infection to severe respiratory symptoms and even death. However, the impact of COVID-19 on blood glucose has not been fully understood. This meta-analysis aimed to summarize available data on the association between glycemic parameters and severity of COVID-19. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched from December 1, 2019 to May 15, 2020. Observational studies investigating blood glucose or glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) according to the severity of COVID-19 were considered for inclusion. Two independent researchers extracted data from eligible studies using a standardized data extraction sheet and then proceeded to cross check the results. Data were pooled using a fixed- or random-effects model to calculate the weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Three studies reported blood glucose and HbA1c according to the severity of COVID-19 and were included in this meta-analysis. The combined results showed that severe COVID-19 was associated with higher blood glucose (WMD 2.21, 95% CI: 1.30-3.13, P < 0.001). In addition, HbA1c was slightly higher in patients with severe COVID-19 than those with mild COVID-19, yet this difference did not reach significance (WMD 0.29, 95% CI: -0.59 to 1.16, P = 0.52). Conclusions: This meta-analysis provides evidence that severe COVID-19 is associated with increased blood glucose. This highlights the need to effectively monitor blood glucose to improve prognosis in patients infected with COVID-19.