Diabetes Metab Syndr . Clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 infected diabetic patients admitted in ICUs of the southern region of Bangladesh

[tetano]

Diabetes Metab Syndr


. 2020 Dec 30;15(1):229-235.
doi: 10.1016/j.dsx.2020.12.037. Online ahead of print.
Clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 infected diabetic patients admitted in ICUs of the southern region of Bangladesh


Ayan Saha ¹ , Mohammed Moinul Ahsan ² , Md Tarek-Ul Quader ³ , Sabekun Naher ⁴ , Farhana Akter ⁵ , H M Hamidullah Mehedi ⁶ , Asm Arman Ullah Chowdhury ² , Md Hasanul Karim ² , Tazrina Rahman ⁷ , Ayesha Parvin ⁸



Affiliations

• PMID: 33445071
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dsx.2020.12.037

Abstract

Background and aims: Diabetes mellitus is highly prevalent among critical cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with poor outcomes. This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with diabetes, admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the southern region of Bangladesh.
Methods: Epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, treatments, complications, and clinical outcomes data were extracted from electronic medical records of 168 COVID-19 patients admitted into ICU of two COVID-19 dedicated hospitals of Chattogram, Bangladesh and compared between diabetes (n = 88) and non-diabetes (n = 80) groups.
Results: The prevalence of diabetes was high among 51-70 years old patients. All the diabetic patients had at least one other comorbidity, with a significantly higher incidence of hypertension (53.4% vs 27.5%, P < 0.05). Prevalence of male patients (74/88; 84.1%) was slightly higher among diabetic patients than the non-diabetic patients (60/80; 75%). Even though not significant, Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that COVID-19 patients with diabetes had a shorter overall survival time than those without diabetes. In subgroup analysis, diabetic patients were classified into insulin-requiring and non-insulin-requiring groups based on their requirement of insulin during the stay in ICU. COVID-19 infected diabetic patients requiring insulin have high risk of disease progression and shorter survival time than the non-insulin required group.
Conclusions: Diabetes is an independent risk factor for the poor prognosis of COVID-19. More attention should be paid to the prevention and prompt treatment of diabetic patients, to maintain good glycaemic control especially those who require insulin therapy.

Keywords: Bangladesh; COVID-19; Clinical characteristics; Diabetes mellitus; Epidemiology.