Clinical Phenotype and Outcomes of Inpatients With COVID-19 and Diabetes

The epidemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), a disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, rapidly spread worldwide and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. It is well known that people with diabetes have increased infection risk, especially for influenza and pneumonia. Moreover, diabetes was previously reported as a major risk factor for mortality in people infected with the H1N1 pandemic influenza and, more recently, with the Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) . Epidemiological studies have quickly and consistently pointed out diabetes as one of the major comorbidities associated with COVID-19 and affecting its severity. The prevalence of diabetes in patients with COVID-19 was first reported to range from 5% to 20%. Furthermore, the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalisation Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) reported a diabetes prevalence of 28.3% in hospitalised patients in the USA. More importantly, all studies published so far have reported a two- to threefold higher prevalence of diabetes in patients in ICUs compared with those with less severe disease and an increased mortality in people with diabetes. A recent meta-analysis further demonstrated that diabetes was associated with a more than doubled risk for ICU admission and a more than tripled risk for death. However, precise data regarding diabetes characteristics in hospitalised people with COVID-19 are still lacking. Moreover, the relationship between diabetes-related phenotypes and the severity of COVID-19 remains unknown. This study aims to identify the clinical and biological features and potential interactions of diabetic therapies associated with disease severity and mortality risk in people hospitalised for COVID-19. Hospital medical records of inpatients, hospitalized between February 23 to March 31 2020, at the Internal Medicine Unit dedicated to COVID-19 in the Academic Hospital of Parma, Italy will be analysed.