Cited by 272COVID-19 Clinical Research StudiesSARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 ResearchDiabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins

Diabetes, obesity, metabolism, and SARS-CoV-2 infection: the end of the beginning

Open access
Drucker, Daniel J.·2021·Cell Metabolism

Abstract

The increased prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular risk factors in people hospitalized with severe COVID-19 illness has engendered considerable interest in the metabolic aspects of SARS-CoV-2-induced pathophysiology. Here, I update concepts informing how metabolic disorders and their co-morbidities modify the susceptibility to, natural history, and potential treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with a focus on human biology. New data informing genetic predisposition, epidemiology, immune responses, disease severity, and therapy of COVID-19 in people with obesity and diabetes are highlighted. The emerging relationships of metabolic disorders to viral-induced immune responses and viral persistence, and the putative importance of adipose and islet ACE2 expression, glycemic control, cholesterol metabolism, and glucose- and lipid-lowering drugs is reviewed, with attention to controversies and unresolved questions. Rapid progress in these areas informs our growing understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection in people with diabetes and obesity, while refining the therapeutic strategies and research priorities in this vulnerable population.

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  • Obesity is known to involve heightened inflammation, impaired adaptive immunity, endothelial dysfunction, and coagulation abnormalities, which could account for the observed association between high BMI and long COVID.

    “Increased inflammation, defective adaptative immune responses, endothelial dysfunction and coagulation-related disorders are all phenomena that have been well described in obesity and might represent a plausible explanation to the link we observed between high BMI and long COVID [33].”

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  1. Duarte-Salles T. Vizcaya D. Pistillo A. Casajust P. Sena A.G. Lai L.Y.H. Prats-Uribe A. Ahmed W.U. Alshammari T.M. Alghoul H. Baseline characteristics, management, and outcomes of 55,270 children and adolescents diagnosed with COVID-19 and 1,952,693 with influenza in France, Germany, Spain, South Korea and the United States: an international network cohort study medRxiv 2020 10.1101/2020.10.29.20222083 · DOI
  2. Israel A. Schäffer A.A. Cicurel A. Feldhamer I. Tal A. Cheng K. Sinha S. Schiff E. Lavie G. Ruppin E. Large population study identifies drugs associated with reduced COVID-19 severity medRxiv 2020 10.1101/2020.10.13.20211953 PMC8321549 34313216 · DOI
  3. Savarraj J.P. Burkett A.B. Hinds S.N. Paz A.S. Assing A. Juneja S. Colpo G.D. Torres L.F. Gusdon A. McCullough L. Three-month outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients medRxiv 2020 10.1101/2020.10.16.20211029 · DOI
  4. Woolcott O.O. Castilla-Bancayán J.P. Diabetes and mortality among 1.6 million adult patients screened for SARS-CoV-2 in Mexico medRxiv 2020 10.1101/2020.11.25.20238345 · DOI

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Authors
Drucker, D. J.
Affiliations
University of Toronto (CA)
Corresponding author
Drucker, Daniel J.
Venue
Cell Metabolism
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-03
Volume
33
Issue
3
Pages
479-498
ISSN
1550-4131 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3124063857
Cited by
272
References
190
Citations by year
2026: 16 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 38 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 86 · 2021: 58
FWCI
6.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell Metabolism (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research (154321)
  • University of Toronto
  • Novo Nordisk
  • Novo Nordisk Fonden
  • Pfizer (GLP-2)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 pandemic, obesity, diabetes mellitus, metabolic disorders, ACE2 expression, adipose tissue, pancreatic islets, glycemic control, cholesterol metabolism, antidiabetic drugs, lipid-lowering drugs, immune response, viral persistence, disease severity, genetic susceptibility, comorbidities
MeSH terms
Heart Disease Risk Factors, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Drug Treatment, Blood Glucose, Cholesterol, Diabetes Mellitus, Glucose, Humans, Hyperglycemia, Metabolic Diseases, Obesity, Comorbidity, Genetic Predisposition to Disease

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