Profile and prognosis of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 virus infection with and without diabetes – An observational study from South India

Abstract Background and aims We studied the profile and outcome of patients hospitalized for coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) infection with and without type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods In this observational study, clinical details of patients with COVID-19, identified by Reverse Transcription – Polymerase Chain Reaction admitted to 4 hospitals in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India were collected from May to November 2020. A total of 845 (n = 423 with diabetes, n = 422 without diabetes) were selected for the analysis. Clinical details, biochemical and radiological investigations, diabetes treatment, intensive care, mortality and other adverse outcomes were recorded. Patients with clinical history of T2DM, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) of ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol) and/or random blood glucose ≥200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/l) were included. Statistical analyses were done using chi-square or ‘t’ test and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results At admission, patients with T2DM were older (p  Conclusion Our study showed that mortality was associated with higher age and renal disorders but did not show an association with diabetes, among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection.