Diabetes related phenotypes and their influence on outcomes of patients with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Abstract Introduction Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with severe forms of COVID-19 but little is known about the diabetes—related phenotype considering pre-admission, on-admission and data covering the entire hospitalization period. Methods We analyzed COVID-19 inpatients (n = 3327) aged 61.2(48.2–71.4) years attended from March to September 2020 in a public hospital. Results DM group (n = 1218) differed from Non-DM group (n = 2109) by higher age, body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure and lower O2 saturation on admission. Gender, ethnicity and COVID-19-related symptoms were similar. Glucose and several markers of inflammation, tissue injury and organ dysfunction were higher among patients with diabetes: troponin, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine phosphokinase (CPK), C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate, brain natriuretic peptide, urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium but lower albumin levels. Hospital (12 × 11 days) and intensive care unit permanence (10 × 9 days) were similar but DM group needed more vasoactive, anticoagulant and anti-platelet drugs, oxygen therapy, endotracheal intubation and dialysis. Lethality was higher in patients with diabetes (39.3% × 30.7%) and increased with glucose levels and age, in male sex and with BMI