Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Jun 28, 2021; 9(3): 234-256
Published online Jun 28, 2021. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v9.i3.234
Environmental pollution and diabetes mellitus
Amany El-Sikaily, Mohamed Helal
Amany El-Sikaily, Mohamed Helal, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), Cairo 21513, Egypt
Author contributions: Helal M and El-Sikaily A wrote the paper and revised the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohamed Helal, PhD, Assistant Professor, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), Quaiet Bay, Al Anfoushy, Cairo 21513, Egypt. m.helalf@gmail.com
Received: January 28, 2021
Peer-review started: January 28, 2021
First decision: February 25, 2021
Revised: March 17, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2021
Article in press: June 3, 2021
Published online: June 28, 2021
Processing time: 164 Days and 23.9 Hours
Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chromic metabolic disease that affects a large segment of the population worldwide. Physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and genetic predisposition are main risk factors for disease development. In the last decade, it was clear to the scientific community that DM development is linked to a novel disease inducer that was later defined as diabetogenic factors of pollution and endocrine disrupting agents. Environmental pollution is exponentially increasing in uncontrolled manner in several countries. Environmental pollutants are of diverse nature and toxicities, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, and heavy metals. In the current review, we shed light on the impact of each class of these pollutants and the underlined molecular mechanism of diabetes induction and biological toxicities. Finally, a brief overview about the connection between coronavirus disease 2019 and diabetes pandemics is presented.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Glucose; Heavy metals; Polyaromatic hydrocarbons; Pesticide; COVID-19

Core Tip: In the review we summarize the relationship between different environmental pollutants of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides and heavy metals and their association with prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Further discussion of the molecular mechanisms of these pollutants that underline diabetes pathophysiology. Finally, a brief discussion on the association of diabetes mellitus, coronavirus disease 2019 and their clinical complications.