Background

It 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 is not enough data in the literature.

Aim

To investigate course of COVID-19 among patients with Gaucher disease (GD), the most common lysosomal storage disease.

Methods

Based on the National Health System data, a retrospective cohort of patients with confirmed (PCR positive) 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 in crude and propensity score matched (PSM) groups. The outcomes were hospitalization, the composite of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and/or mechanical ventilation and mortality.

Results

The patients with GD were significantly older and had a higher frequency of hypertension, T2DM, dyslipidemia, asthma or COPD, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and cancer. Although hospitalization rates in Gaucher patients were found to be higher in crude analyzes, the PSM models (model 1, age- and gender-matched; model 2, matched for age, gender, hypertension, 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 hospitalization (p = 0.241), ICU admission/mechanical ventilation (p = 0.403) or mortality (p = 0.231).

Conclusion

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

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