PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sindi, Anees A.
AU  - Tashkandi, Wail A.
AU  - Jastaniah, Mohammed W.
AU  - Bashanfar, Mohammed A.
AU  - Fakhri, Ahmed F.
AU  - Alsallum, Fahad S.
AU  - Alguydi, Hamdan B.
AU  - Elhazmi, Alyaa
AU  - Al-Khatib, Talal A.
AU  - Alawi, Maha M.
AU  - Abushoshah, Ibrahim
TI  - Impact of diabetes mellitus and co-morbidities on mortality in patients with COVID-19
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2023.44.1.20220462
DP  - 2023 Jan 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 67--73
VI  - 44
IP  - 1
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/44/1/67.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/44/1/67.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2023 Jan 01; 44
AB  - Objectives: To describe the effect of diabetes mellitus (DM) on clinical outcomes of patients admitted with COVID-19 infection.Methods: We carried out a single center, observational, retrospective study. We included adult patients with laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 admitted to a tertiary hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from April 2020 to December 2020. Electronic medical records were reviewed for demographics, clinical status, hospital course, and outcome; and they were compared between the patients with or without DM.Results: Out of 198 patients included in the study, 86 (43.4%) were diabetic and 112 (56.5%) were non-diabetic. Majority of the patients were males 139 (70.2%) with a mean age of 54.14±14.89 years. In-hospital mortality rate was higher in diabetic patients than in non-diabetic patients (40 vs. 32; p=0.011). The most common comorbidity was hypertension (n=95, 48%) followed by ischemic heart disease (n=35, 17.7%), chronic kidney disease (n=17, 9.6%), and bronchial asthma (n=10, 5.1%).Conclusion: The risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection is higher among diabetic patients; particularly, those with preexisting co-morbidities or geriatric patients. Diabetic patients are prone to a severe clinical course of COVID-19 and a significantly higher mortality rate.