The Relationship between Diabetes Mellitus and COVID-19 Prognosis: A Retrospective Cohort Study in Wuhan, China.

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease, first appeared in Wuhan, China, and quickly spread throughout the world. We aimed to understand the relationship between diabetes mellitus and the prognosis of COVID-19. Methods Demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiologic, treatments, complications, and clinical outcomes data were extracted from electronic medical records and compared between diabetes (n=84) and non-diabetes (n=500) groups. Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox analysis were applied to determine the risk factors for the prognosis of COVID-19. Results Compared to non-diabetic patients, diabetic patients had higher levels of neutrophils (p = 0.014), c-reactive protein (p = 0.008), procalcitonin (p Conclusions Diabetes is an independent risk factor for the prognosis of COVID-19. More attention should be paid to the prevention and treatment for diabetic patients, especially those who require insulin therapy.