The scientists discovered that hyperglycemia is widespread in hospitalized COVID-19 individuals and is substantially related to poor results, according to the research published in Cell Metabolism on September 15th.
COVID May Aggravate Diabetes By Damaging Fat Cells
A combination of diabetes and Covid may prove fatal for any patient. However, it depends on many more factors such as age, vaccine status, diabetes level, and overall immunity of the individual. In most cases, patients with uncontrolled diabetes may lead to the severe spread of infection that can fail multiple organs at a time leading to a higher death rate, revealed an expert from the research team.
The scientists additionally discovered indications that the coronavirus that produces COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, could induce hyperglycemia by affecting fat cell synthesis of leptin, a substance that stimulates control blood sugar levels.
As per the latest analysis from Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian, COVID-19 could increase the chance of serious illness and mortality in some people by altering important biochemical pathways and causing hyperglycemia.
“We normally don’t think that fat cells are very active, but in fact, they synthesize many protective proteins for your body and it appears that SARS-CoV-2 may disable that protection in many patients,” said Dr. James Lo, an associate professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Weill Center for Metabolic Health and the Cardiovascular Research Institute, and a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Diabetes’ fundamental symptom, hypoglycemia, is linked to inflammatory and decreased virus resistance, and it was identified as a substantial hazard variable for acute COVID-19 earlier in the epidemic. Nevertheless, researchers started to discover indications that COVID-19 is linked to hyperglycemia in people that have never had diabetes.
They discovered that a shockingly large percentage of such individuals (49.7%) had hyperglycemia or acquired it throughout their clinic stays. Hyperglycemia also was related to poorer results in such COVID-19 individuals.
People with hyperglycemia are nine times more prone to significant pulmonary dysfunction, 15 percent more prone to require respiratory support, and three times more prone to perish than individuals with healthy blood glucose concentrations.
Interestingly, the scientists discovered that hypoglycemia and the dangerous hazards it carries also happen in other types of acute lung function that COVID-19 doesn’t cause. They detected it in a similar percentage in COVID-19-associated ARDS instances as in non-COVID-19-associated ARDS cases, including acute influenza or pneumococcal disease.
On the other hand, hyperglycemia for latter instances seemed to be mainly induced by the death or malfunction of beta cells, which produce insulin, the main protein that controls blood sugar.
“In COVID-19 patients, however, hyperglycemia is mostly caused by insulin resistance, which occurs when insulin is present but the tissues it normally works on are no longer receptive to it,” explained first author Dr. Moritz Reiterer.
It’s unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 affects fat cell insulin synthesis. It could do so inadvertently by increasing overall irritation, which destroys fat cells. However, the scientists found that SARS-CoV-2 can attack humans and rat adipose tissues, implying that the viruses may directly affect insulin synthesis in COVID-19 sufferers.
Additional testing showed that COVID-19 ARDS individuals’ serum concentrations of leptin, a hormone made by fat cells that usually prevent diabetes by improving glucose tolerance, had significantly decreased.
“Patients with obesity, for example, maybe more vulnerable to COVID-19 because they may already have some degree of insulin resistance and fat cell dysfunction, and possibly their fat cells are more susceptible to infection,” Dr. Lo said.
The results also imply that thiazolidinediones, a family of diabetic medicines that stimulate adipose synthesis, could be effective in managing COVID-19 whenever it comes with hyperglycemia. Before it may be used in clinical practice, more study is required.
