No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Objectives: To compare risk factors and clinical outcomes among COVID-19 patients with or without diabetes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: Data of 350 COVID-19 positive patients, admitted to Al Kuwait Hospital in Dubai, UAE, from February to May 2020 was collected retrospectively, including demographic data, clinical symptoms, blood tests, as well as radiographical assessments, and clinical outcomes of COVID-19. The design of the study is a retrospective cohort study. Results: COVID-19 patients with diabetes belong to an older age group, had a higher percentage of male patients, exhibited more lymphopenia and neutrophilia, and higher ferritin levels. Additionally, patients with diabetes presented fever and shortness of breath (SOB), displayed more bilateral airspace consolidation and opacities in their chest x-ray and CT scans, compared to non-diabetics. A higher percentage of critical, ICU-admitted, and death of COVID-19 cases in the diabetic group was also reported. This was along with a concomitant increase in C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, and lactate dehydrogenase levels. Conclusions: Diabetes is considered a comorbidity as diabetic patients showed more severe COVID-19 symptoms that led to critical clinical outcomes such as ICU admission and death.

No abstract

No abstract

Background: Identifying clinical-features or a scoring-system to predict a benefit from hospital admission for patients with COVID-19 can be of great value for the decision-makers in the health sector. We aimed to identify differences in patients' demographic, clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings of COVID-19 positive cases to develop and validate a diagnostic-model predicting who will develop severe-form and who will need critical-care in the future.Methods: In this observational retrospective study, COVID-19 positive cases (total 417) diagnosed in Al Kuwait Hospital, Dubai, UAE were recruited, and their prognosis in terms of admission to the hospital and the need for intensive care was reviewed until their tests turned negative. Patients were classified according to their clinical state into mild, moderate, severe, and critical. We retrieved all the baseline clinical data, laboratory, and radiological results and used them to identify parameters that can predict admission to the intensive care unit (ICU).Results: Patients with ICU admission showed a distinct clinical, demographic as well as laboratory features when compared to patients who did not need ICU admission. This includes the elder age group, male gender, and presence of comorbidities like diabetes and history of hypertension. ROC and Precision-Recall curves showed that among all variables, D dimers (>1.5 mg/dl), Urea (>6.5 mmol/L), and Troponin (>13.5 ng/ml) could positively predict the admission to ICU in patients with COVID-19. On the other hand, decreased Lymphocyte count and albumin can predict admission to ICU in patients with COVID-19 with acceptable sensitivity (59.32, 95% CI [49.89–68.27]) and specificity (79.31, 95% CI [72.53–85.07]).Conclusion: Using these three predictors with their cut of values can identify patients who are at risk of developing critical COVID-19 and might need aggressive intervention earlier in the course of the disease.

IntroductionCOVID-19 is raising with a second wave threatening many countries. Therefore, it is important to understand COVID-19 characteristics across different countries.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional descriptive study of 525 hospitalized symptomatic COVID-19 patients, from the central federal hospital in Dubai-UAE during period of March to August 2020.ResultsUAE’s COVID-19 patients were relatively young; mean (SD) of the age 49(15) years, 130 (25%) were older than 60 and 4 (<1%) were younger than 18 years old. Majority were male(47; 78%). The mean (SD) BMI was 29 (6) kg/m2. While the source of contracting COVID-19 was not known in 369 (70%) of patients, 29 (6%) reported travel to overseas-country and 127 (24%) reported contact with another COVID-19 case/s. At least one comorbidity was present in 284 (54%) of patients and 241 (46%) had none. The most common comorbidities were diabetes (177; 34%) and hypertension (166; 32%). The mean (SD) of symptoms duration was 6 (3) days. The most common symptoms at hospitalization were fever (340; 65%), cough (296; 56%), and shortness of breath (SOB) (243; 46%). Most of the laboratory values were within normal range, but (184; 35%) of patients had lymphopenia, 43 (8%) had neutrophilia, and 116 (22%) had prolong international normalized ratio (INR), and 317 (60%) had high D-dimer. Chest x ray findings of consolidation was present in 334 (64%) of patients and CT scan ground glass appearance was present in 354 (68%). Acute cardiac injury occurred in 124 (24%), acute kidney injury in 111 (21%), liver injury in 101 (19%), ARDS in 155 (30%), acidosis in 118 (22%), and septic shock in 93 (18%). Consequently, 150 (29%) required ICU admission with 103 (20%) needed mechanical ventilation.ConclusionsThe study demonstrated the special profile of COVID-19 in UAE. Patients were young with diabetes and/or hypertension and associated with severe infection as shown by various clinical and laboratory data necessitating ICU admission.