New-Onset Hyperglycemia in Adult COVID-19 Patients

BACKGROUND: Adults without diabetes mellitus may experience transient hyperglycemia during a severe illness, and it is caused by a variety of circumstances. AIM: Assess the incidence of hyperglycemia in newly diagnosed COVID-19-infected patients without previous history of diabetic. Study the correlation between various risk factors of diabetics with the incidence of hyperglycemia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective cohort study which involved a recently newly diagnosed COVID-19-infected patient. Each patient was followed up prospectively for the duration of admission (two weeks), and random plasma glucose was recorded for each patient at diagnosis, during the active infection, and 14 days after remission. Patients with elevated blood glucose are treated with insulin therapy. The study was carried out in the Baghdad Teaching Medical City complex outpatient clinic. The study started in January 2021 and was completed in March 2021 (about three months). RESULTS: The study of 96 patients, with a mean age of 47.7 ± 15.1 years with a similar male-to-female ratio, 27.1% of the patients had hypertension, followed by asthma and ischemic heart disease (IHD). 41.7% of the patients had a positive family history of DM, and 68.8% used steroids during admission. There was a significant change in blood glucose from its baseline value to during infections (33.3% had levels above 200 mg/dl and reduced to 10.4%, whoever its value was not significantly elevated during remission (similar to baseline value). In Univariate analysis, the following factors were associate with the increased risk of hyperglycemia: increased age, male gender, hypertension, IHD, family history of diabetics, and use of steroid therapy. While in multivariate analysis, only age and steroid remain significant, which indicates both are independent predictors of hyperglycemia. CONCLUSIONS: The development of hyperglycemia is common in non-diabetics newly diagnosed with COVID-19