Evaluation of laboratory diagnostic markers in diabetic patients with COVID-19

 Diabetes mellitus is the most common chronic metabolic disorder that increases both susceptibility and mortality rates in patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We conducted a study on diabetic patients with COVID-19 to investigate the relationship between laboratory indicators and peripheral oxygen saturation (SPO2 ).

 In this analytical-cross-sectional study, the required information of diabetic patients with COVID-19 admitted to Taleghani educational hospital in Abadan from March 20, 2020 to March 19, 2021 was obtained by referring to the hospital information system of Abadan University of Medical Sciences and patient files.

 Two hundred patients were studied, of which 88 (44%) were men and 112 (56%) were women. The mean age of the studied patients was 60.57±14.84. Among all the investigated markers, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum glutamate oxalate transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and respiratory rate (RR) were higher than the normal range, while SPO2 was lower than the normal range. Based on the linear regression analysis results, a significant relationship was observed between the decrease in SPO2 of patients with disease outcome, duration of hospitalization in the intensive care unit (P<0.001), RR (P<0.001), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (P=0.02), CRP+3 (P=0.002), platelet (PTT) (P=0.03), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (P=0.002), and LDH (P=0.003).

 The results showed that some laboratory diagnostic markers were higher than the normal range, while SPO2 was lower than the normal range. Moreover, a significant relationship was found between SPO2 index and disease outcome, duration of hospitalization in intensive care unit (ICU), and some diagnostic markers of the liver, inflammation, and coagulation.