Clinical analysis of risk factors for severe COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Aims: To describe characteristics of COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes and to analyze risk factors for severity. Methods: Demographics, comorbidities, symptoms, laboratory findings, treatments and outcomes of COVID-19 patients with diabetes were collected and analyzed. Results: Seventy-four COVID-19 patients with diabetes were included. Twenty-seven patients (36.5%) were severe and 10 patients (13.5%) died. Higher levels of blood glucose, serum amyloid A (SAA), C reactive protein and interleukin 6 were associated with severe patients compared to non-severe ones (P b 0.05). Levels of albumin, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein, small and dense low density lipoprotein and CD4+ T lymphocyte counts in severe patients were lower than those in non-severe patients (P b 0.05). Logistic regression analysis identified decreased CD4+ T lymphocyte counts (odds ratio [OR] = 0.988, 95%Confidence interval [95%CI] 0.979–0.997) and increased SAA levels (OR = 1.029, 95%CI 1.002–1.058) as risk factors for severity of COVID-19 with diabetes (P b 0.05). Conclusions: Type 2 diabetic patients were more susceptible to COVID-19 than overall population, which might be associated with hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia. Aggressive treatment should be suggested, especially when these patients had low CD4+ T lymphocyte counts and high SAA levels