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

Li, F.; Cai, Y.; Gao, C.; Zhou, L.; Chen, R.; Zhang, K.; Li, W.; Zhang, R.; Zhang, X.; Wang, D.; Liu, Y.; Tao, L.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of diabetes and blood glucose on mortality of patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This is 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 is all-cause mortality during hospitalization. RESULTS Among 2877 hospitalized patients, 15.5% (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 glucose above 4mmol/L was significantly associated with subsequent mortality on COVID-19(adjusted HR 1.17, 95%CI: 1.10-1.24, per 1mmol/L increase, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Diabetes and glucose were associated with increased mortality in patients with COVID-19. These data support that blood glucose should be properly controlled for possibly better survival outcomes in patients with COVID-19.