S3222 COVID-19 Infection and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Retrospective Study

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first detected in China in December 2019. It was declared a pandemic by the WHO on March 11th, 2020. Common symptoms are fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, and chills. Patients with diabetes mellitus are presenting with uncontrolled glucose associated with COVID-19 infection. Additionally, type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is being diagnosed post-COVID-19 infection as well. We did a retrospective study to investigate the relationship of type 2 diabetes mellitus with COVID-19 infection. Methods: Slicer dicer was used to get patient data of all COVID-19 patients admitted to Ochsner hospitals in Louisiana from July 1st to November 30th. A retrospective review of 1455 charts was completed. After removing duplicates, data from a total of 1380 patients were analyzed. Inclusion criteria: All patients age > 18 years with confirmed COVID-19 disease, requiring admission to the hospital, were included. Data was collected in redcap. Analysis was completed in JMP. Results: A1c values changed significantly (p < 0.05) after COVID-19 infection. Pre-COVID mean was 6.8 with an SD of 3.5 while the post-COVID mean was 7.6 with an SD of 2.34. There were 121 cases of newly diagnosed DM2 post-COVID-19 infection. Conclusion: COVID-19 infection is significantly associated with worsening diabetic control. Cases have also been documented of new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus post-infection. Healthcare workers need to be aware of this link between COVID-19 and DM2 and closely monitor pancreatic function with glucose levels to reduce morbidity and mortality of these individuals. Long-term follow-up in these patients should be undertaken to follow the effects of COVID-19 infection on pancreatic function with the persistence of hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus to confirm if these effects are transient or permanent.Table 1