No association of Gaucher Disease with COVID-19-related outcomes: a nationwide cohort study

Intern Med J. 2021 Dec 23. doi: 10.1111/imj.15673.

PMID: 34939733

Ibrahim Demirci, Tevfik Demir, Selcuk Dagdelen

Highlights: According to our national data, SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with Gaucher disease does not have a more severe course than the normal population.

Abstract

Background: The Covid 19 pandemic has been shown to have a negative impact on patients with chronic metabolic disorders like diabetes and obesity. When it comes to rare metabolic illnesses, however, there isn't enough information in the literature.

Aim: The goal of this study was to look at the progression of COVID-19 in patients with Gaucher disease (GD), the most common lysosomal storage disease.

Methods: A retrospective cohort of patients with proven (PCR positive) COVID-19 infection (n = 149 618) was analyzed using data from the National Health System. In crude and propensity score matched (PSM) groups, the adverse outcomes of individuals with GD (n = 39) and those without GD (n = 149 579) were compared. Hospitalization, a composite of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or mechanical ventilation, and mortality were the outcomes.

Results: Hypertension, T2DM, dyslipidemia, asthma or COPD, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and cancer were all found to be more common in GD patients, and the patients with GD were significantly older. Although hospitalization rates in Gaucher patients were shown to be higher in crude analyses, PSM models (model 1, age and gender-matched; model 2, matched for age, gender, hypertension, T2DM, and cancer) revealed no differences in outcomes between GD patients and the general population. A diagnosis of GD was not found to be a significant predictor of hospitalization (p = 0.241), ICU admission/mechanical ventilation (p = 0.403), or mortality (p = 0.231) in multivariate regression models.

Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with GD does not have a more severe course than in the general population, according to our national data.

Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, Gaucher, Mortality, National, SARS-CoV-2