A new protocol for monitoring glucose may help combat serious complications from COVID-19 in patients with diabetes or high blood sugar, researchers say.
The researchers have also developed a blood sugar management tool that may potentially reduce the risk of secondary infections, kidney issues, and intensive care stays in people with diabetes, pre-diabetes, or obesity, who get COVID-19.
COVID-19 and Diabetes
Senior author Rodica Pop-Busui, a diabetes specialist, professor of internal medicine, and vice-chair of clinical research in the internal medicine department, suspects it’s the low-grade, inflammatory nature of diabetes that promotes the virus’ inflammatory surge, resulting in insulin resistance and severe hyperglycemia.Gianchandani said these complications make managing blood sugar more difficult.
“Our team is convinced this management is essential to prevent complications that lead to prolonged inpatient stays, or morbidity,” she said. “A recent study has already shown there’s a correlation between well-controlled blood sugar and lower levels of inflammatory markers.”
Protocol for Blood Sugar Monitoring
The newly created hyperglycemia management teams set out to find a way to monitor patients’ diabetes without having to use more personal protective equipment to visit the rooms all the time. It was also important to reduce the health care provider’s exposure to the virus as much as possible.Although typically accurate, a continuous glucose monitor wouldn’t be as helpful because a patient’s low blood pressure and the use of blood pressure medications could falsely elevate blood sugar levels.
The new protocol called for insulin delivery every six hours, and at the same time, a nurse would check in on the patient. Some patients who were on ventilators or receiving high doses of vitamin C would have their arterial or venous blood sugar levels checked, replacing the need for the team’s blood sugar check.
For patients with the highest blood sugar levels and severe hyperglycemia, insulin infusions were an option for them until their levels fell to within a normal range.
The result of these efforts helped successfully lower blood sugar levels without increasing nurse contact or the overall burden on primary care teams and PPE usage.
It’s important to note that this protocol wasn’t developed as a result of a clinical trial but is based solely on preliminary observations in the patients the team followed. A larger, randomized, and controlled study is necessary to determine how this protocol impacts mortality, time to recovery, the length of ICU stays, and the rate of severe complications.
“Our team is looking forward to the next steps in confirming our hypothesis,” Gianchandani said. “In the meantime, I think these observations validate the importance of blood sugar management in COVID-19 patients and can serve as a guide or inspiration for other institutions.”