A large new study will use PCORnet® to explore the relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes with the goal of guiding future treatment interventions and public health approaches. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) received a four-year, $28 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health, this week to support this research.
The COVID-19 and Diabetes Assessment (CODA) Study will use PCORnet and the TID Exchange, a research network of diabetes centers, to identify and recruit 1,600 participants who either have a known COVID-19 infection within the past 90 days and have also been diagnosed with diabetes during that period, or have a recent diabetes diagnosis and no known COVID-19 infection in the past year. The study will compare and follow the two groups for two years.
With the ability to engage with hundreds of healthcare sites and access to electronic health record data from more than 30 million patients annually, PCORnet resources are critical to ensuring the CODA Study captures a broad and diverse representation of patients. In alignment with the patient-centered focus of PCORnet® Network Partners, the study will also answer important questions patients are asking about the link between diabetes and COVID-19. Namely, to what extent does COVID-19 cause worse glycemic control, vascular function, inflammation, and increased risk for blood clots in people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes? The study will also explore the role of genomic, social, and environmental factors on metabolic function and the impact of COVID-19 infection and COVID-19 treatments on diabetes-related outcomes.
“This study will greatly expand our knowledge about the relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes and will also provide us novel information about what factors influence the early course of diabetes in children and adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes,” said principal investigator and project leader Russell Rothman, MD, MPP, of VUMC and Principal Investigator of the STAR Clinical Research Network.
Rothman will co-lead the CODA Study alongside Alvin C. Powers, MD, of Vanderbilt University; Jonathan Schildcrout, PhD, of Vanderbilt University; and Jason Block, MD, MPH, of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. Recruitment will begin soon.