Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was observed that individuals with
previous comorbidities such as cardiovascular, pulmonary and metabolic diseases,
such as Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2), were at greater risk of complications when
infected with the new coronavirus. Many of these patients evolved with pneumonia
and worsened with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), quickly
corroborating to multiple organ failure. Objective: To assess risk factors related to
the severity of COVID-19 in patients with DM2. Method: Retrospective observational
study of an analytical nature, developed from an interview with patients diagnosed
with DM2 and COVID-19, and analysis of previous clinical and laboratory data
referring to outpatient consultations at the Endocrinology and Metabology Service of
a Reference Hospital in the Region North. The hypotheses were tested according to
the nature of the variables, considering an alpha of 5%. Results: We studied 101
patients with DM2, all dyslipidemic, who had asymptomatic or mild (n=62), moderate
(n=32), and severe (n=7) COVID-19, classified according to clinical and/or laboratory
tests, according to the Ministry of Health. Of these, 35 were brown, 33 black and 33
white, with racial proportions not different depending on the clinical form (p=0.7389).
As for age, the patients had an average of 59.8 ± 9.2 years, which was also not
different between the clinical forms of COVID-19 (p=0.5786). Similarly, no significant
differences (p>0.05) were found between the forms of COVID-19 when they were
compared regarding the presence of obesity, duration of DM and dyslipidemia,
glycated hemoglobin, presence and duration of SAH, total cholesterol, rate of
glomerular filtration (GFR), creatinine levels and presence of peripheral arterial
disease. Considering the outcome of death or cure, it was observed that the former
were on average 10.8 years older (p=0.0051), had a longer time since the diagnosis
of DM2 (17.2 vs. 9.1 years; p=0.0020), higher mean total cholesterol (210.0 vs.
181.8 mg/dL; p=0.0373), higher mean creatinine concentration (1.2 vs. 0.9 mg/dL;
p=0.0300) and were more frequent among those with GFR<60 mL/min/1.73m²
(p=0.0041), with no other associations in relation to the clinical profile. Conclusion:
Risk factors such as chronic nephropathy, age, disease duration and high cholesterol
were related to worse outcomes in diabetic patients who had COVID-19.
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