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Objective: The novel coronavirus caused a disease that mainly affected the respiratory system. The effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 on the hypot halam ic–pi tuita ry–ad renal axis is unknown. This study assesses the prognostic accuracy of serum cortisol levels and prediction tools in predicting mortality rates in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: We prospectively analyzed 106 inpatients (53 COVID-19 positive, 53 non-COVID-19; mean 59.9 ± 17.3 years; 38 males and 68 females) with serum cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone levels compared with prognostic scores. Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores determined the disease’s severity. The predictive value of serum cortisol, APACHE, and SOFA on mortality was assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and the area under the curve (AUC). Results: No significant age or sex differences were found between groups. Serum cortisol levels were similar. The APACHE-II scores in the COVID-19 group were higher than in the other group, while SOFA scores showed no significant difference. The AUC for the APACHE-II score in predicting mortality was 0.765 (95% CI 0.672-0.842), with an optimal cutoff (>9) demonstrating 62.5% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity for overall participants. No correlation was found between serum cortisol levels and prediction tools such as APACHE-II and SOFA. Conclusion: The measurement of serum cortisol did not provide additional prognostic information beyond that established by the APACH-II score. This study highlights the significance of assessing novel prognostic tools for predicting outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to identify the risk factors for the development of diabetes mellitus after transplantation in liver recipients. Methods: Two hundred twenty-seven patients with a follow-up period >8 months after liver transplantation were included in the study. The clinical and laboratory data of patients with post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus and without post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus were compared. Results: Of the 227 patients, 61 patients were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus in the pretransplantation period. Twelve percent of the patients (20 patients) were diagnosed with post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus and 146 patients were not diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. We found that post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus was associated with advanced age (95% CI: 1.002-1.142). Male liver recipients were diagnosed with a higher rate of post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus than female recipients (15.5% and 5.4%, respectively; P = .045). Pretransplantation fasting plasma glucose levels were higher in patients with post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus than without post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus, which was not statistically significant (P = .097). While 22.2% of patients with post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus had complications after transplantation, 14.2% of the patients without post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus had complications after transplantation (P = .370). Conclusion: As post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus is associated with graft failure and increased mortality and morbididy, candidates for liver transplantation should be screened for risk factors of diabetes, and blood work for diabetes mellitus should be done regularly in these patients. Since patients with advanced age, male gender, and higher fasting plasma glucose levels in the pretransplantation period have higher risk for the development of post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus, these cases should be screened more carefully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]