Different Aspects of Diabetes in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19, a recent infectious disease that aggravates the underlying pathophysiology of hyperglycemia in diabetic individuals. This study aimed to detect how diabetes mellitus (DM) affected COVID-19 patients' morbidity and mortality, and the incidence of neonset DM.

The present study was a cross-sectional study done at Aswan Isolation Hospitals, Egypt. It comprised 200 individuals who had been tested positive for COVID-19. They were divided into two groups: group 1 (pre-existing diabetes = 143 patients) and group 2 (new-onset diabetes = 57 patients), and all patients were subjected to general examinations, hospital stay duration, and investigations, such as (complete blood count, urea, creatinine, HBA1c, fasting, postprandial, and random blood sugar, D-Dimer, ferritin, C-reactive protein, PCR for SARS COV-2 RNA, and CT chest.

The current study consisted of 94 males and 106 females. According to disease severity, they were 96 (48.0%) critical cases, 57 (28.5%) severe cases, and 47 (23.5%) non-severe cases. The incidence of new-onset DM in COVID-19 patients was 28.5% (57 new cases), with a mortality rate of 42.0% (84 cases). Regarding glycemic control, we found a significant difference in fasting blood sugar (FBS) between the two groups, with a significant increase of FBS in the dead group than in the survived group. We also found a significant age difference in critical than in severe and non-severe groups, with a high mortality rate in older patients. Inflammatory markers, such as ferritin, CRP, and D-dimer, were higher in critical than in severe and non-severe groups.

The prevalence of new-onset DM is significant among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Older patients were more prone to disease severity with high mortality rate. Inflammatory markers such as CRP and ferritin were significantly related to the COVID-19 severity and outcome.