The Relationship between Diabetes Mellitus and The Prognosis of COVID-19

Article information Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19] was first reported in Wuhan, China. It then rapidly spread and became a global epidemic due to infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]. COVID-19 is highly transmissible with a high risk of mortality. Patients with diabetes mellitus [DM] are more susceptible to infectious agents like SARS-CoV-2. Aim of the work: The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between DM and COVID-19 infection regarding severity, mortality, admission rate, complications, and prognosis. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed between April 2021 and September 2021. It included 75 patients divided into three groups: Group A [COVID-19 patients with diabetes, n=25], Group B [COVID-19 patients who developed diabetes, n=25] and Group C [COVID-19 patients without diabetes, n=25]. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiologic, management, complication, and clinical outcome data were collected and compared between the groups. Results: Patients with diabetes had a higher rate of complications like respiratory failure and acute cardiac injury. Respiratory failure was not significantly different between groups [20%, 28% and 12% in groups A, B and C respectively, P=0.368]. However, acute cardiac injury was significantly higher in groups A than B and in A and B than C [[44%, 20% and 8% respectively, P=0.01]. The mortality rate was also significantly higher among groups A and B than C [56%, 40% vs 8%, P=0.001]. Conclusion: Diabetes is an independent risk factor for COVID-19 prognosis. Diabetic patients should be closely monitored during treatment, especially those requiring insulin therapy.