Diabetes and hyperglycaemia among hospitalised patients with COVID-19 in Western Sydney: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes has been recognised as a major risk factor for COVID-19 mortality and hospital complications in earlier studies. AIMS: To examine the characteristics of hospitalised COVID-19 patients with diabetes and the impact of diabetes and hyperglycaemia on hospital outcomes. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study. Admission glucose levels, HbA1c, diabetes status and hospital outcomes were determined for subjects admitted from June to November 2021 by matching a pathology data set, a clinical data set and the hospital administrative database. The outcomes of interest were death, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and length of stay (LOS). RESULTS: There were 1515 individuals admitted with COVID-19 with 49 deaths (3.2%) and 205 (13.5%) ICU admissions. The median length of hospital stay was 3.7 days. Three hundred and ten patients (20%) had diabetes, with 46 (15%) newly diagnosed. Patients with diabetes had a higher mortality than patients who did not have diabetes (8% vs 2%, P < 0.001), were more likely to be admitted to ICU (20% vs 12%, P = 0.001) and have longer median LOS stay (6.6 (interquartile range (IQR) 2.9-12.5) vs 2.9 (IQR 0.5-7.1) days, P < 0.001). In multivariate models, neither diabetes nor admission glucose predicted death. Admission glucose level but not diabetes was an independent predictor of ICU admission and LOS. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high prevalence of diabetes among patients hospitalised with COVID-19, with worse outcomes. In contrast to previous studies, the association of diabetes with mortality was not significant when adjusted for other variables. This is possibly related to the benefits of vaccination and current medical and ICU interventions.

Dexamethasone-induced hyperglycaemia in COVID-19: Glycaemic profile in patients without diabetes and factors associated with hyperglycaemia.

AIMS: To evaluate glycaemic profiles of COVID-19 patients without diabetes receiving dexamethasone and determine factors associated with hyperglycaemia. METHODS: All subjects without pre-existing diabetes receiving dexamethasone 6 mg for COVID-19 in a non-critical care setting were identified. Glucose profiles were obtained from capillary blood glucose (BG). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with dexamethasone-induced hyperglycaemia (BG ≥ 10 mmol/L). RESULTS: Of 254 subjects, 129 (50.8%) were male with age 51.1 ± 18.2 years and weight 89.7 ± 26.3 kg. Hyperglycaemia post-dexamethasone occurred in 121 (47.6%). Glucose excursions began within three hours (6.8 ± 1.4 mmol/L pre-dexamethasone vs 8.7 ± 2.4 mmol/L at ≤ 3 h, p < 0.001) and peaked at 7-9 h (10.5 ± 2.3 mmol/L, p < 0.001 vs pre-dexamethasone). BGs post-intravenous were higher than post-oral administration for the initial six hours. Hyperglycaemic subjects were older (57.8 ± 17.5 years vs 45.0 ± 16.6 years, p < 0.001), had higher initial glucose (6.3 ± 1.0 vs 5.9 ± 0.9 mmol/L, p = 0.004), higher HbA1c (5.8 ± 0.3% [40 ± 3.5 mmol/mol] vs 5.5 ± 0.4% [37 ± 4.1 mmol/mol], p < 0.001) higher C-reactive protein (CRP) (100 ± 68 vs 83 ± 58 mg/L, p = 0.026), and lower eGFR (79 ± 17 vs 84 ± 16 mL/min/1.73 m2, p = 0.045). Mortality was greater in the hyperglycaemia group (9/121 [7.4%] vs 2/133 [1.5%], p = 0.02). Age, HbA1c and CRP were independently associated with hyperglycaemia. CONCLUSIONS: Half of subjects without diabetes experienced hyperglycaemia post-dexamethasone for COVID-19, peak occurring after 7-9 h. Age, HbA1c and CRP were associated with hyperglycaemia.

Diabetes case finding in the emergency department, using HbA1c: an opportunity to improve diabetes detection, prevention, and care.

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the efficacy of routine glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) testing to detect undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes in an urban Australian public hospital emergency department (ED) located in an area of high diabetes prevalence. METHODS: Over 6 weeks, all patients undergoing blood sampling in the ED had their random blood glucose measured. If ≥5.5 mmol/L (99 mg/dL), HbA1c was measured on the same sample. HbA1c levels ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol) and 5.7-6.4% (39-46 mmol/mol) were diagnostic of diabetes and prediabetes, respectively. Hospital records were reviewed to identify patients with previously diagnosed diabetes. RESULTS: Among 4580 presentations, 2652 had blood sampled of which 1267 samples had HbA1c measured. Of these, 487 (38.4%) had diabetes (either HbA1c≥6.5% or a prior diagnosis), and a further 347 (27.4%) had prediabetes. Among those with diabetes, 32.2% were previously undiagnosed. CONCLUSIONS: Routine HbA1c testing in the ED identifies a large number of people with undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes, and provides an opportunity to improve their care.