Bidirectional link between diabetes mellitus and coronavirus disease 2019 leading to cardiovascular disease: A narrative review

Viswanathan, Vijay; Puvvula, Anudeep; Jamthikar, Ankush D; Saba, Luca; Johri, Amer M; Kotsis, Vasilios; Khanna, Narendra N; Dhanjil, Surinder K; Majhail, Misha; Misra, Durga Prasanna; Agarwal, Vikas; Kitas, George D; Sharma, Aditya M; Kolluri, Raghu; Naidu, Subbaram; Suri, Jasjit S

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic where several comorbidities have been shown to have a significant effect on mortality. Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) have a higher mortality rate than non-DM patients if they get COVID-19. Recent studies have indicated that patients with a history of diabetes can increase the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Additionally, patients without any history of diabetes can acquire new-onset DM when infected with COVID-19. Thus, there is a need to explore the bidirectional link between these two conditions, confirming the vicious loop between “DM/COVID-19”. This narrative review presents (1) the bidirectional association between the DM and COVID-19, (2) the manifestations of the DM/COVID-19 loop leading to cardiovascular disease, (3) an understanding of primary and secondary factors that influence mortality due to the DM/COVID-19 loop, (4) the role of vitamin-D in DM patients during COVID-19, and finally, (5) the monitoring tools for tracking atherosclerosis burden in DM patients during COVID-19 and “COVID-triggered DM” patients. We conclude that the bidirectional nature of DM/COVID-19 causes acceleration towards cardiovascular events. Due to this alarming condition, early monitoring of atherosclerotic burden is required in “Diabetes patients during COVID-19” or “new-onset Diabetes triggered by COVID-19 in Non-Diabetes patients”.