Epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in diabetic versus non-diabetic patients

Abstract

Objectives and background People with diabetes (PWD) are one of the high-risk groups for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, increasing the disease mortality. This study was aimed to compare the epidemiological characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 in diabetic versus non-diabetic individuals. Methods In this retrospective observational study, the epidemiological characteristics of the two groups of diabetic ( n =1365) and non-diabetic ( n =15,026) subjects with definite diagnosis of COVID-19 in the southwestern region of Iran were compared. All clinical signs and comorbidities of the patients were evaluated. Chi-square test was used to examine the differences in qualitative variables between diabetic and non-diabetic groups. Results Of 16,391 enrolled subjects, 8.3% had diabetes, and 28.3% of COVID-19-related deaths occurred in diabetics. Also, the mortality rate among diabetics was reported as 14.3%. The average age of diabetic patients and non-diabetic patients was 59 and 37 years, respectively. The odds of fever, cough, shortness of breath, headache, and underlying diseases, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, immune deficiency, and hyperlipidemia, were significantly higher in diabetic patients than in non-diabetics. Conclusion Diabetes is associated with increased mortality rate in patients with COVID-19 and is considered as a major risk factor for COVID-19 infection, posing a major public health challenge for health policymakers in managing and controlling the disease. Therefore, development of prevention and treatment strategies aimed at reducing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in diabetes patients is of significant importance.

Comorbidities and Mortality Risk in COVID-19 Infected Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study in North-Eastern Iran

“…In support of our findings, diabetes has been widely suggested by previous studies as a mortality and poor outcome predictor among COVID-19 patients. [30][31][32] Moreover, mortality of COVID-19 patients with co-existing CVD was higher compared to the healthy ones, but we did not find a statistically significant difference. Similar to our findings, three studies conducted in Georgia, Brazil, and Italy, reported CVD patients to have a higher mortality rate, but they did not detect CVD as a significant mortality predictor.…”

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 diabetic versus non-diabetic patients: A retrospective comparative study

“…The prevalence of COVID-19 positive diabetics in hospitalized patients varies across the Middle East. it was 19.5% in Qatar [31], 29.3% in Kuwait [32], 8.3% in Iran [33] and 31.2% in UAE [34].…”

“…In the current study, more than three-fourths of the diabetic patients were hypertensive, 50% had CVD, and were significantly older than non-diabetic patients. These factors can increase the risk of poor disease prognosis [33][34][35]. COVID-19 is a multisystem infection rather than only a respiratory infection.…”

Hyperlipidemia, COVID-19 and acute pancreatitis: A tale of three entities

“…Thirty-four papers were reviewed after screening, which reported the incidence of hyperlipidemia in COVID-19 patients ( Table 2 ). 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 The incidence of hyperlipidemia ranged from 0.30% to 81.82% in COVID-19 patients among different studies. Potential reasons for the variations could be: 1) Regional factors led to the difference in baseline lipids levels; 2) The definition of hyperlipidemia varied in different studies.…”