Why did we do this research?
Clinical experience suggested that patients with preexisting diabetes and concomitant cardiometabolic comorbidities are more likely to have poor clinical outcomes of COVID-19. This research aimed to diabetes-related complications in acute COVID-19 illness, including new and persistent hyperglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, and severe insulin resistance.
What were the aims of this research?
- Evaluated causal associations of cardiometabolic diseases and traits with COVID-19 severity.
- Examined whether global genetic risk, variation in candidate genes implicated in cardiometabolic disease, and molecular targets of diabetes drugs are associated with diabetes-related complications in acute COVID-19 illness.
- Tested for mediation and interaction with prior diabetes diagnosis, prior A1C, obesity, diabetes drug exposures, and circulating ACE2 among other cardiometabolic biomarkers.
What were the outcomes?
The results of the study supports the conclusion that higher BMI is as a causal risk factor for COVID-19 susceptibility and severity.