The Covid-19 patients who had hyperglycemia on hospitalisation were more likely to require a breathing machine or admitted to ICU than those with normal glucose levels, as per the findings published in the journal EurekAlert!

Hyperglycemia refers to high levels of sugar, or glucose, in the blood. It occurs when the body does not produce or use enough insulin. It is a strong indicator of diabetes.

The authors of the study found that the patients with hyperglycemia were reportedly likelier to have kidney injury and to die in the hospital.

“Covid-19 patients presenting to the hospital with hyperglycemia require closer observation, as they are likely to require more aggressive therapies,” said the study’s lead investigator, Samara Skwiersky, M.D., M.P.H., an internal medicine resident physician at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Earlier studies have also marked hyperglycemia or diabetes as an independent risk factor for worse Covid-19 outcomes.

Their study included 708 adults with Covid-19 admitted to SUNY Downstate Medical Center, 89 per cent of whom were Black. About half were men, and 54 per cent of patients had a history of either type 1 or type 2 diabetes on admission.

The researchers studied patient outcomes by the presence or absence of diabetes. They also analysed blood glucose values on admission.

The findings suggested that patients with diabetes whose blood glucose values on admission exceeded 140 mg/dL had a 2.4-fold increased odds of ICU admission and intubation - needing a breathing machine. This was in comparison with those whose glucose levels were lower, the researchers reported.

Notably, patients with diabetes whose admission glucose levels were higher than 180 mg/dL had an approximately twofold increased odds of in-hospital death, the study stated.

However, Skwiersky said the odds of death also were increased twofold for patients who did not have diabetes and whose glucose values exceeded 140 mg/dL.

Furthermore, these patients had a 3.5-fold raised odds of ICU admission and 2.3-fold higher odds of intubation and of experiencing acute kidney injury.

“The results from our study reiterate the importance of regularly monitoring blood glucose in patients hospitalized with Covid-19, even without a prior diagnosis of diabetes,” Skwiersky added.

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