SEVERITY OF INFLAMMATION IN COVID-19 PATIENTS WITH DIABETIC CO-MORBIDITIES-A HOSPITAL BASED STUDY

ABSTRACT

Background: Diabetic co-morbidities in recent past pandemic were becoming a challenge to the clinicians. COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease caused by SARS-COV-2 virus. World health organization declared COVID-19 pandemic in Feb 2020. The objective of this study was to determine the severity of inflammation in COVID-19 patients with diabetic co-morbidities in a hospital based study. Material and methods: This descriptive study covering 176 patients was conducted in Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar from 25 April 2021 to 21st October 2021. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was used as statistical tool to determine the relationship of clinical sensitivity of different inflammatory markers in diabetic COVID-19 patients to predict the outcome. Post-stratification Chi square test was used at 5% level of significance. Results: Out of 176 patients, 149 (84.7%) patients were discharged satisfactorily while 27 patients expired during hospitalization. Mean with SD for age was 53.28±13.73 years, for D dimer was 13.14±2.61 ug/ml and for CRP was 16.73+11.78 mg/l. Median of serum Ferritin was 1120 ng/ml. There was a significantly higher inflammatory markers values of D-dimer (p=0.001 and ferritin (p=0.001) in diabetic versus non diabetic COVID Patients. D-Dimer was main decisive prognostic indicator in diabetics with COVID-19 to predict mortality/worst outcome with an Area under Curve (AUC) of (0.929 95%CI 0.88-0.96) followed by Serum ferritin (0.868 95%CI 0.78-0.95). There was a significant association of Diabetes with Mortality (p<0.001) in COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: The clinical sensitivity of d-dimer and ferritin toward mortality in COVID-19 patients with diabetic co-morbidities is significantly high in our population. Diabetes alone has a significant positive association with worst outcome in covid-19. © 2022. Hamzullah Khan, et al.