Blood glucose control with different treatment regimens in type 2 diabetes patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection: A retrospective study

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is closely associated with hyperglycemia and a worse prognosis in patients with a previous diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. A few studies investigated the effects of diabetes treatment regimens in these patients during hospitalization. Here, we evaluate the impact of insulin and non-insulin therapy on glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes admitted with COVID-19. This is a retrospective study including 359 COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to diabetes treatment during hospitalization. The first group included patients treated with insulin only, and the second group patients treated with other antidiabetic agents with or without insulin. Average blood glucose was higher in the insulin-only treatment group (201 ± 66 mg/dL vs 180 ± 71 mg/dL, P =.004), even after excluding mechanically ventilated patients (192 ± 69 vs 169 ± 59 mg/dL, P =.003). In patients with moderate severity of COVID-19, average blood glucose was also significantly higher in the insulin-only treated group (197 ± 76 vs 168 ± 51 mg/dL, P =.001). Most patients (80%) in the combination treatment group received metformin. Moderately affected COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes could safely be treated with antihyperglycemic medications with or without insulin.