Effect of plasma glucose at admission on COVID-19 mortality: experience from a tertiary hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Plasma glucose has been correlated with in-hospital mortality among many diseases including infections. We aimed to study plasma glucose at admission of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 at a tertiary care referral hospital at Jodhpur, India and its relation with mortality. DESIGN: A hospital-based clinical study of plasma glucose of COVID-19 patients conducted from May 15th to June 30th, 2020 after ethical approval. MEASUREMENTS: Random blood samples at admission were collected for plasma glucose, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) after written informed consent. Plasma glucose was analyzed by automated analyzer, IL-6 by chemiluminescent immunoassay and hsCRP by immune-turbidimetric assay. RESULTS: A total of 386 patients studied (female 39.6%); 11.1% had severe disease and 4.1% expired. There were 67 (17.4%) patients with known diabetes mellitus (DM). Patients with history of DM had three times higher mortality (6/66, 9%) than those without DM (10/319, 3.1%). Patients with moderate and severe disease according to ICMR and WHO grading had higher plasma glucose than those with asymptomatic or mild disease (p 100-200, >200-300 and >300mg/dl respectively compared to those with random plasma glucose of <100mg/dl at admission. Plasma glucose was strongly correlated with hsCRP (p<0.001) and IL-6 (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma glucose at admission in hospitalized COVID-19 patients is a strong predictor of mortality.