Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Type 2 Diabetes and patients Infected with COVID-19

Abstract

<b>Introduction:</b> Diabetes and its related metabolic disorders have been reported as the leading comorbidities in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). <b>Aim:</b> to investigate the clinical features, radiographic and laboratory tests, complications and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients with or without diabetes. <b>Results:</b> This retrospective study included 122 hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 during the period between June 2020 and January 2021. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 37.7% with male predominance (63.15%). More than a third of diabetic patients were smokers (37%). The mean age was more advanced in diabetic patients (65.4 years vs 61 years). All patients had comorbidity with type 2 diabetes. In COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes, the coexistence of hypertension (67.39% vs274.63 %), coronary heart disease (10% vs3 %), and chronic kidney diseases (10% vs 2%) was higher than in COVID-19 patients without type 2 diabetes. The frequency and degree of abnormalities in computed tomography (CT) chest scans in COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes were markedly increased, including ground-glass opacity and bilateral patchy shadowing (26% vs 24 %, P=0.3 ). In addition, biological inflammatory syndrome was more evident in diabetic patients. Seventeen percent of diabetic patients were hospitalized with severe acute respiratory failure (17.39% vs 15.78%). <b>Measurements and Main Results:</b> The coexistence of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders is common in patients with COVID-19, which may potentiate the morbidity and aggravate COVID-19 progression. Optimal management of the metabolic homeostasis of glucose and lipids is the key to ensuring better clinical outcomes