House Call: COVID-19 and Diabetes Risk

From an optimist’s perspective, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—and its effect on previously planned medical meetings—has forced organizers and investigators to reevaluate the means by which their delivering messages of new data and improved practices to their peers.

Such is the case for the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2020 Scientific Sessions, as they prepare to roll out their virtual meeting platform later this week.

But, from another perspective, COVID-19 is the sole healthcare discussion worth focusing on at this moment—both inside cardiology and out.

In a special edition House Call video conference interview with HCPLive®, Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH, a cardiologist at the Center for Advanced Heart Disease at Brigham and Women's Hospital, explained how the current pandemic can inform him and colleagues in preparedness for virtual meeting and information sharing capabilities.

He also discussed the stress on care currently needed for patients with diabetes and other cardiometabolic disease during the COVID-19 spread. “Protecting them for organ injury is an important aspect of their care,” Vaduganathan explained. “Each of our therapies have important safety issues that may be considered in this context.”

Vaduganathan advised for the interrupted use of therapies including SGLT2 inhibitors in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 due to risk of diabetic ketoacidosis—but cases may vary among patients.