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. 2025 Mar 3;24(1):74.
doi: 10.1007/s40200-025-01587-8. eCollection 2025 Jun.

Investigating the association between major dietary patterns and disease outcomes in diabetic and non-diabetic patients with COVID-19: a cross-sectional study

Atefeh Amrollahi  1 , Zahra Hariri  2 , Tahereh Sabaghian  3 , Saeid Kalbasi  4 , Omid Nikpayam  5 , Golbon Sohrab  1
Affiliations

Investigating the association between major dietary patterns and disease outcomes in diabetic and non-diabetic patients with COVID-19: a cross-sectional study

Atefeh Amrollahi et al. J Diabetes Metab Disord. .

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the important challenges for health systems in various societies which results in high mortality. The present study aimed to investigate the association between the severity of COVID-19 and dietary patterns in diabetic and non-diabetic patients.

Methods: A total of 218 subjects (108 patients in the diabetic group and 110 participants in the non-diabetic group) participated in the present cross-sectional study. Demographic data, COVID-19 outcomes, and biochemical variables were gathered based on the medical records in the hospital. The dietary intake of participants was assessed using a 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). A multivariate regression test was carried out to determine the association between dietary patterns and severity of COVID-19. All of the statistical analyses were conducted by SPSS version 21.

Results: We determined three major dietary patterns including Healthy, Unhealthy, and Traditional dietary patterns in the current study. Statistical analysis indicated that there was a significant inverse association between Healthy dietary pattern and the severity of disease in the diabetic group (OR:0.75, 95%CI:0.62-0.89), while adherence to an Unhealthy dietary pattern increased the severity of COVID-19 in diabetic (OR:1.94, 95%CI:1.56-2.63), and non-diabetic (OR:1.92, 95%CI:1.27-3.54), groups. In addition, there was an indirect significant association between length of hospitalization and Healthy dietary pattern (Beta: -0.253, P: 0.008). However, statistical analysis didn't demonstrate a substantial relationship between dietary patterns and inflammatory variables.

Conclusion: According to the findings of the current study higher adherence to a Healthy dietary pattern had beneficial effects on the severity of COVID-19, but Unhealthy dietary patterns exacerbate the situation of patients infected with coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cross-sectional study; Diabetes; Dietary patterns.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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