New registry to aid understanding of new-onset diabetes associated with COVID-19

Written by Ilana Landau, Editor

A group of leading international diabetes experts has announced the launch of a global registry to gather data on new-onset diabetes amongst individuals with COVID-19, its pathogenesis, management and associated outcomes.

In a correspondence in the New England Journal of Medicine, a group of leading international diabetes experts has announced the launch of a global registry to gather data on the incidence of new-onset diabetes amongst individuals with COVID-19, the similarity of this condition to established types of diabetes and its long-term impacts. The registry is a venture of the CoviDIAB project – a collaborative initiative between King’s College London (UK) and Monash University (Melbourne, Australia).

Currently available evidence suggests there is a seemingly bi-directional relationship between diabetes and COVID-19; diabetes has been reported a significant risk factor for severe COVID-19. There have also been reports of new-onset diabetes, as well as acute, severe metabolic complications associated with pre-existing diabetes, in individuals with COVID-19, suggesting that COVID-19 may exert impacts on diabetes itself.


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It is currently unclear whether COVID-19-associated metabolic alterations – such as those to glucose metabolism – persist after disease resolution or, if they are transient, whether they place individuals at increased risk of developing diabetes later in life. Further, it is unknown whether these changes resemble classical Type 1 or 2 diabetes or represent a new form of the condition itself.

The newly established CoviDIAB Registry seeks to help characterize COVID-19-related diabetes, to help both inform clinical management of individuals with diabetes who contract COVID-19 and explore potentially novel mechanisms of the disease.

Stephanie Amiel, a Professor of Diabetes Research at King’s College London and a co-investigator of the CoviDIAB project, explained: “The registry focuses on routinely collected clinical data that will help us examine insulin secretory capacity, insulin resistance and autoimmune antibody status to understand how COVID-19 related diabetes develops, its natural history and best management. Studying COVID-19-related diabetes may uncover novel mechanisms of disease.”


Sources:

Rubino F, Amiel SA, Zimmet P et al. New-onset diabetes in Covid-19. New Eng J Med. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2018688 (2020); www.kcl.ac.uk/news/covid-19-trigger-new-diabetes-experts-warn; http://covidiab.e-dendrite.com/