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Published on: April 6, 2022
Glucose variability is a marker for COVID-19 severity and mortality
Ran Abuhasira1,2, Alon Grossman1,3
1Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Insights
High glucose variability in hospitalized COVID-19 patients may indicate higher mortality risk, but this link weakens with clinical data adjustments. Glucose coefficient of variation (CV) is a potential simple marker for disease severity.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Infectious Diseases
- Critical Care Medicine
Background:
- Glucose dysregulation is common in hospitalized patients.
- The impact of glucose variability on COVID-19 outcomes requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between glucose coefficient of variation (CV) and mortality and disease severity in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective cohort study of 565 COVID-19 patients.
- Patients stratified by diabetes mellitus (DM) status and quartiles of glucose CV.
- Outcomes included length of stay and in-hospital mortality.
Main Results:
- Higher glucose CV was initially associated with longer hospitalization and mortality in patients with DM.
- Adjustments for comorbidities and laboratory markers attenuated these associations.
- The association between glucose CV and adverse outcomes disappeared after full adjustment.
Conclusions:
- While glucose CV may initially appear linked to COVID-19 severity, this association is confounded by other clinical factors.
- Glucose CV's utility as an independent marker for mortality and severity in COVID-19 is questionable after comprehensive adjustment.
Objective:
We aimed to investigate the association between glucose coefficient of variation (CV) and mortality and disease severity in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).
Subjects And Methods:
Retrospective cohort study in a tertiary center of patients with COVID-19 admitted to designated departments between March 11th, 2020, and November 2nd, 2020. We divided patients based on quartiles of glucose CV after stratification to those with and without diabetes mellitus (DM). Main outcomes were length of stay and in-hospital mortality.
Results:
The cohort included 565 patients with a mean age of 67.71 ± 15.45 years, and 62.3% were male. Of the entire cohort, 44.4% had DM. The median glucose CV was 32.8% and 20.5% in patients with and without DM, respectively. In patients with DM, higher glucose CV was associated with a longer hospitalization in the unadjusted model (OR = 2.7, 95% CI [1.3,5.6] for Q4), and when adjusted for age, sex, comorbidities, and laboratory markers, this association was no longer statistically significant (OR = 1.3, 95% CI [0.4,4.5] for Q4). In patients with and without DM, higher glucose CV was associated with higher rates of in-hospital mortality in the unadjusted model, but adjustment for comorbidities and laboratory markers eliminated the association (OR = 0.5, 95% CI [0.1,3.4] for Q4 in patients with DM).
Conclusion:
Higher glucose CV was associated with increased in-hospital mortality and length of stay, but this association disappeared when the adjustment included laboratory result data. Glucose CV can serve as a simple and cheap marker for mortality and severity of disease in patients with COVID-19.
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