• Ibrahim Demirci, Tevfik Demir, Selcuk Dagdelen, Cem Haymana, Ilker Tasci, Aysegul Atmaca, Derun Ertugrul, Naim Ata, Mustafa Sahin, Serpil Salman, Ibrahim Sahin, Rifat Emral, Ugur Unluturk, Erman Cakal, Osman Celik, Murat Caglayan, Ilhan Satman, and Alper Sonmez.
• Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Gulhane Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Ankara, Turkey.
• Intern Med J. 2022 Mar 1; 52 (3): 379-385.

BackgroundIt is well documented that patients with chronic metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, are adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when the subject is rare metabolic diseases, there are not enough data in the literature.AimTo investigate the course of COVID-19 among patients with Gaucher disease (GD), the most common lysosomal storage disease.MethodsBased on the National Health System data, a retrospective cohort of patients with confirmed (polymerase chain reactionpositive) COVID-19 infection (n = 149 618) was investigated. The adverse outcomes between patients with GD (n = 39) and those without GD (n = 149 579) were compared with crude and propensity score-matched (PSM) groups. The outcomes were hospitalisation, the composite of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or mechanical ventilation and mortality.ResultsThe patients with GD were significantly older and had a higher frequency of hypertension (HT), Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), dyslipidaemia, asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, heart failure and cancer. Although hospitalisation rates in Gaucher patients were found to be higher in crude analyses, the PSM models (model 1, age and gender matched; model 2, matched for age, gender, HT, T2DM and cancer) revealed no difference for the outcomes between patients with GD and the general population. According to multivariate regression analyses, having a diagnosis of GD was not a significant predictor for hospitalisation (P = 0.241), ICU admission/mechanical ventilation (P = 0.403) or mortality (P = 0.231).ConclusionAccording to our national data, SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with GD does not have a more severe course than the normal population.© 2021 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

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