DIABETES NEWS
ETHNICITY, POOR BLOOD-SUGAR CONTROL
LINKED TO COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATION FOR YOUTH WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES BY DEBRA MELANI
THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO ANSCHUTZ MEDICAL CAMPUS APRIL 28, 2021
Taking a first look at COVID-19’s effects on children and
adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D), researchers have linked ethnic minority status, poor blood-sugar control and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) with increased hospitalization. The connection between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and severe COVID-19 has been well established, with the more common T2D a clear risk factor for poorer outcomes and death from SARS-CoV-2. Few studies have focused on T1D, however, and none has zeroed in on pediatric patients until now. The Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes (BDC) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus took part in the multicenter study, spearheaded by the Bostonbased T1D Exchange Quality Improvement Collaborative. The study was published online this month in the Journal of Diabetes.
DKA, COVID-19 can equal trouble
In patients with T1D, the pancreas produces little to no insulin, blocking glucose (blood sugar) from entering cells for life-sustaining energy. Most often diagnosed in children and adolescents, patients face a life-long battle of maintaining that critical blood-sugar balance. DKA sets in when the balance becomes so out of whack, acids called ketones build up in the blood. “It leads to dehydration and vomiting, and, if left untreated, the patient will die,” said the BDC’s G. Todd Alonso, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at the CU School of Medicine and lead author of the study. While researchers didn’t find T1D itself putting the young patients more at risk for severe COVID-19 illness than their non-diabetic peers, they did discover that DKA and COVID-19 was a dangerous mix.
G. Todd Alonso, MD
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“DKA was largely what put the kids in the hospital,” Alonso said of the study participants. “It wasn’t something novel with the coronavirus, yet you can imagine that these are two things that you don’t want to have together.”
