Effects of Diabetes and Blood Glucose on COVID-19 Mortality: A Retrospective Observational Study

OBJECTIVETo investigate the association of diabetes and blood glucose on mortality of patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSThis was a retrospective observational study of all patients with COVID-19 admitted to Huo-Shen-Shan Hospital, Wuhan, China. The hospital was built only for treating COVID-19 and opened on February 5, 2020. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality during hospitalization. RESULTSAmong 2877 hospitalized patients, 13.5% (387/2877) had a history of diabetes and 1.9% (56/2877) died in hospital. After adjustment for confounders, patients with diabetes had a 2-fold increase in the hazard of mortality as compared to patients without diabetes (adjusted HR 2.11, 95%CI: 1.16-3.83, P=0.014). The on-admission glucose (per mmol/L[≥]4mmol/L) was significantly associated with subsequent mortality on COVID-19 (adjusted HR 1.17, 95%CI: 1.10-1.24, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONSDiabetes and on-admission glucose (per mmol/L[≥]4mmol/L) are associated with increased mortality in patients with COVID-19. These data support that blood glucose should be properly controlled for possibly better survival outcome in patients with COVID-19.