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. 2021 Mar 15;13(3):e13902.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.13902.

A Retrospective Study Assessing the Effect of Diabetes on Mortality in Patients With COVID-19 at a Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom

Fahad W Ahmed  1 , Omar Z Kirresh  1 , Alyss V Robinson  1 , M S Majeed  2 , Dominique Rouse  1 , Rumaisa Banatwalla  1 , Sathish Parthasarathy  1 , Catherine Sargent  3 , Clare Castledine  4 , Ali J Chakera  5
Affiliations

A Retrospective Study Assessing the Effect of Diabetes on Mortality in Patients With COVID-19 at a Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom

Fahad W Ahmed et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Aim The aim of the study was to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes (mortality, intensive care admission, mechanical ventilation, and length of stay, LoS) of patients with and without diabetes with confirmed COVID-19. Methods This retrospective study evaluated clinical and laboratory variables in adult inpatients from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 between March 10, 2020, and June 30, 2020. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to compare the outcomes of patients with and without diabetes. Results Over 457 patients were included in this study (140 with diabetes and 317 without diabetes), of which 143 (31.9%) died. The median age was 80 years and were predominantly males (59.1%). Baseline characteristics at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis demonstrated that the patients with diabetes were younger than those without diabetes (p=0.008). Mortality increased with age. There was no difference in adverse outcomes in those with and without diabetes. However, subgroup analysis of patients aged ≤60 years demonstrated a significantly increased mortality in those with diabetes (p=0.016). Patients with diabetes had an increased length-of-stay compared to those without diabetes, which was more evident in those aged ≤60 years. Conclusion Age is the most important predictor of mortality. Patients with diabetes did not have increased mortality from COVID-19, which is likely due to their younger age in our cohort. More patients with diabetes stayed in the hospital longer than seven days than those without diabetes.

Keywords: coronavirus disease 2019; covid-19; diabetes mellitus; mortality; united kingdom.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow diagram of patients included in the study.
COVID-19: coronavirus, SARS-COV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, RT-PCR: real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, n: number.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival for COVID-19 patients with and without diabetes mellitus.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival for COVID-19 patients with and without diabetes mellitus aged ≤60 years.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Kaplan-Meier estimates of survival for COVID-19 patients with and without diabetes mellitus aged >60 years.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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