Association of diabetes with severity and outcome of COVID - 19 positive patients: a retrospective cohort study in King Abdullah Medical Complex, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Wallaa Khaled Albishi * and Sumyia Mehrin

Department of Public health, King Abdulaziz University (M.Sc. in Public Health), Saudi Arabia.
 
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2023, 18(01), 006–013
Article DOI10.30574/wjarr.2023.18.1.0510
 
Publication history: 
Received on 19 February 2023; revised on 31 March 2023; accepted on 03 April 2023
 
Abstract: 
Introduction: The Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19) is a pandemic infectious disease caused by the novel coronavirus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Almost 8 million instances of the illness were confirmed, and there were over 450,000 fatalities. We aim to explore diabetes as a risk factor associated with the severity and outcome of hospital-admitted COVID-19 positive cases.
Method: It is a hospital-based retrospective cohort study of hospital admitted RT-PCR COVID positive cases from March to June 2020. Data were outlined using mean and standard deviation (SD) for quantitative variables; categorical sociodemographic data were compared by disease severity and outcome by Pearson’s Chi-square test (X2). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the risk factor associated with disease severity and outcome of the patients.
Result: Of the 224 diagnosed COVID positive patients, 74 (33.04%) have diabetes. Among these 74 COVID-positive cases with diabetes, 52 (43.70%) cases have severe to critical conditions. Both univariate (OR: 2.87, 95% C.I, 1.58 – 5.20; p = 0.00) and multivariate (aOR: 2.76, 95% C.I, 1.34 – 8.42; p = 0.00) analysis show diabetes has a significant association with severity of COVID infection. Regarding the outcome of hospital admitted COVID patients with diabetes, 52 (28.26%) were discharged alive after recovery from COVID infection. In the univariable (OR: 3.16, 95% C.I, 1.57 – 6.38; p = 0.00) and multivariable (aOR: 3.12, 95% C.I, 1.15 – 8.42; p = 0.02) analysis, diabetes has been significantly associated with the outcome of hospital admitted COVID cases.
Conclusion: Our study identified diabetes as a risk factor for increased severity of COVID positive cases. Risk factors like older age and obesity also significantly predict COVID-19 disease progression.
 
Keywords: 
SARS-CoV-2; Diabetes; Risk factors; COVID-19; Disease severity
 
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