Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early spring 2020, there was a need to identify the burden of this infection on people with rare endocrine conditions. The European Registries For Rare Endocrine Conditions (EuRRECa) was launched in 2018 in collaboration with Endo-ERN, ESPE and ESE to support the needs of the wider endocrine community. The project consists of an e-reporting (e-REC) platform that allows monthly reporting of new clinical encounters.

Methods

The ESE’s Rare Disease Committee, formed in April 2020, created a COVID-19 taskforce which disseminated the use of e-REC through broad condition specific study groups. The e-REC platform does not collect personally identifiable information and does not require individual patient consent. The platform was made available to all centres to report a new confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 in a patient with an existing endocrine or metabolic bone condition.

Results

Since launching the e-REC platform for notification of COVID-19 infections in March 2020, a total of 21 centres from 10 countries have agreed to participate. Of these 21 centres, 10 were reporting patients < 18 yrs (ie children) and 14 were reporting those ≥18 yrs old (adults). Of the 21 centres, 16 (76%) centres from 9 (90%) countries have used e-REC to notify 100 cases of which 55 were confirmed COVID-19 infections and the remainder were suspected. The median number of cases reported per centre was 2 (range 1, 20) and the median number of cases reported per month was 11 (3, 28). Of the 100 cases, 93 were in adults. This total 100 cases can be further categorized as broad thematic categories of pituitary disorders (n, 36), adrenal disorders (n, 32), genetic (neuro)endocrine tumours (n, 12), thyroid disorders (n, 6), calcium/phosphate disorders (n, 6), bone dysplasia (n, 4), glucose and insulin disorders (n, 2), growth and genetic obesity disorders (n, 1) and disorders of sex development and maturation (n, 1).

Conclusion

The use of the e-REC platform for identifying COVID-19 infection in people with rare endocrine conditions has been accepted in several centres and the platform is open for new centres. The majority of cases that have been reported are in adults and a high percentage are confirmed cases. Preliminary data suggest that COVID-19 infections are being reported more often in some endocrine conditions and there is a need to understand the reason for these differences as well as the impact of the infection on these patients.