Children with type 1 diabetes experience greater insulin resistance during diabetic ketoacidosis if they are infected with SARS-CoV-2, US doctors warn.

Results from their single-centre study suggest that COVID-19 provokes metabolic derangement “over and above” traditional factors associated with paediatric diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Clinicians from the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee explained that while COVID-19 mortality remained low in this patient group, there were substantial rates of DKA in conjunction with SARS-CoV-2 infection to warrant investigation. 

The team used data from 108 paediatric hospital admissions for DKA to compare insulin-mediated tissue glucose disposal (TGD) between 15 cases with COVID-19 and 93 without the illness (median ages 14 and 15, respectively).