Clinical considerations for patients with diabetes in times of COVID-19 epidemic | Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews

Individuals with diabetes are at risk of infections, especially influenza and pneumonia. This risk can be reduced, though not completely eliminated, by good glycaemic control. All people with diabetes (above 2 years of age) are recommended pneumococcal and annual influenza vaccinations. Not only this, patients with diabetes have a severe disease when infected with respiratory viruses. Indeed, diabetes was seen as an important risk factor for mortality in patients infected with Pandemic Influenza A 2009 (H1N1), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-related coronavirus (MERSCoV) [[5], [6], [7]].