Clinical characteristics and outcomes in diabetes patients admitted with COVID-19 in Dubai: a cross-sectional single centre study
Authors: Bhatti R , Amar HK , Khattib S , Shiraz S , Matfin G 
Published: July 2020

Aim

To describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospitalised Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with diabetes.

Methods

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in patients with diabetes admitted with COVID-19 to Mediclinic Parkview Hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 30th March to 7th June 2020. They had laboratory and/or radiologically confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), known as COVID-19. Variation in characteristics, length of stay in hospital, diabetes status, comorbidities and outcomes were examined.

Results

A total of 103 patients with confirmed COVID-19 presentations had diabetes. During the same timeframe, 410 patients overall were admitted with COVID-19 infection. This gives a total proportion of persons admitted with COVID-19 infection and coexistent diabetes/prediabetes of 25%. 67% (n=69) of the COVID-19 diabetes cohort were male. Patients admitted with COVID-19 and diabetes represented 17 different ethnicities. Of these, 59.2% (n=61) were Asians and 35% (n=36) were from Arab countries. Mean age (SD) was 54 (±12.5) years. 85.4% (n=88) were known to have diabetes prior to admission, while 14.6% (n=15) were newly diagnosed with either diabetes or prediabetes during admission. Most patients in the study cohort had type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, with only 3% overall having type 1 diabetes (n=3). 46.9% of patients had evidence of good glycaemic control of their diabetes during the preceding 4-12 weeks prior to admission as defined arbitrarily by admission HbA1c <7.5%. 73.8% (n=76) had other comorbidities including hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, and dyslipidaemia. Laboratory data (Mean ± SD) on admission for those who needed ward-based care versus those needing intensive care unit (ICU) care: Fibrinogen 462.75 (±125.16) mg/dl vs 660 (±187.58) mg/dl ; D-dimer 0.66 (±0.55) µg/ml vs 2.3 (±3.48) µg/ml; Ferritin 358.08 (±442.05) mg/dl vs 1762.38 (±2586.38) mg/dl; and CRP 33.9 (±38.62) mg/L vs 137 (±111.72) mg/L were all statistically significantly higher for the ICU cohort (p<0.05). Average length of stay in hospital was 14.55 days. 28.2% of patients needed ICU admission. 4.9% (n=5) overall died during hospitalisation (all in ICU).

Conclusions

In this single-centre study in Dubai, 25% of patients admitted with COVID-19 also had diabetes/prediabetes. Most diabetes patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 disease were males of Asian origin. 14.6% had new diagnosis of diabetes/prediabetes on admission. The majority of patients with diabetes/prediabetes and COVID-19 infection had other important comorbidities (n=76; 73.8%). Only 4 patients had negative COVID-19 RT-PCR but had pathognomonic changes of COVID-19 radiologically. Our comprehensive laboratory analysis revealed distinct abnormal patterns of biomarkers that are associated with poor prognosis: Fibrinogen, D-dimer, Ferritin and CRP levels were all statistically significantly higher (p<0.05) at presentation in patients who subsequently needed ICU care compared with those patients who remained ward-based. 28.2% overall needed ICU admission, out of which 5 patients died. More studies with larger sample sizes are needed to compare data of COVID-19 patients admitted with and without diabetes within the UAE region.