Management of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in patients with diabetes

Abstract

In continuation of the previous issue of Journal of Diabetology (JOD) with a special section on coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), this issue of JOD also has a series of four articles pertaining to management of diabetes in the context of COVID-19. The first article by Dayal and Yadav[1] discusses the possible risks to children and adolescents with diabetes during the current pandemic and the special considerations in management of those affected with COVID-19. In the second article, Singh[2] has elegantly reviewed the use of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP-4) inhibitors in patients with diabetes and COVID-19. Though insulin remains a mainstay in the treatment of patients with COVID-19, this article reassures us regarding continuing DPP-4 inhibitors in mild-to-moderate cases highlighting few real-world data available till date and its potential beneficial/neutral effects in patients with COVID-19. The third article by Bhowmick et al.[3] from Bangladesh Diabetic Association (BADAS) provides an evidence-based guidance for the prevention and care of people with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also has a section on management of COVID-19 in people with diabetes outlining the diet plan, exercise plan, medication plan for glycemic control and care to be taken after discharge from hospital. The fourth article is by Unnikrishnan et al.[4] and presents three cases illustrating how telemedicine has helped management of newly diagnosed gestational diabetes mellitus. They propose telemedicine as a useful tool for managing gestational diabetes in selected situations where the patients are asymptomatic and hemodynamically, as well as clinically, stable. Apart from this special section on COVID-19, our regular articles on clinical studies related to the management and prevention of diabetes and its complications have been included in this issue. One of the significant articles is the review article by Kumar et al.[5] which focuses on the current global and national guidelines for optimum use of insulin in type 2 diabetes. The authors discuss about the initiation of insulin at the time of diagnosis and also after failure of oral drugs. They have also discussed about the advantages of insulin analogs and the role of the recently available insulin co-formulations. We have received many articles on COVID-19 and we plan to continue the special section on COVID-19 in the subsequent issues as well. With the surge in the number of manuscripts received and the exponential growth in the readership of the journal, we propose to increase the number of issues from next year to four issues per year from the current three issues per year. Hopefully, the number of issues will further increase in the years to come. We seek your continuous support for the growth of JOD. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.