Diabetes is associated with higher mortality and severity in hospitalized patients with COVID-19

As a novel cause of pneumonia, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly progressed worldwide Previ-ous studies have indicated COVID-19 patients with diabetes show higher mortality rates and more severe COVID-19 infection with an increased requirement for intensive care and hospital length of stay (LOS) compared to non-diabetic patients The present study aimed to investigate the association of diabetes and COVID-19 outcome with severity of disease in hospitalized patients The present case-control study included 268 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in Ayatollah Khoyi Hospital, Khoy, Iran Diabetes was identified based on medical history and/or criteria of published documents Out of 268 patients (median age of 59 years;53 4 % male), 127 patients had diabetes (47 %) Diabetic patients had remarkably higher mortality rates (adjusted odds ratio, aOR: 3 36;confidence interval, CI: 1 17–9 66), requirement for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) (aOR: 4 59;CI: 1 38–15 25), and LOS (aOR: 1 13;CI: 1 06–1 24) compared to patients without diabetes Inflammatory biomarkers including C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were increased in patients with diabetes compared to non-diabetic patients (P < 0 05 for all the compari-sons) In hospitalized patients with COVID-19, diabetes was correlated with increased disease severity and mortality © 2021, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors All rights reserved