High fasting blood sugar predicts poor prognosis in COVID-19: Study

"We firstly showed FBG ≥7.0 mmol/L predicted worse outcome in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 independent of diabetes history. Our findings indicated screening fasting blood sugar level is an effective method to evaluate the prognosis of patients with COVID-19," he further added. 

The cohort study was conducted in a single-center at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China. Clinical laboratory, and treatment data of 941 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were collected and analyzed. Outcomes of patients with and without pre-existing diabetes were compared and the associations of diabetes history and/or fasting blood sugar levels with mortality were analyzed and the following results were drawn-

1. There was a positive relationship between pre-existing diabetes and the mortality of patients who developed COVID-19.
2. FBG≥7.0 mmol/L was an independent risk factor for the mortality of COVID-19 regardless of the presence or not of a history of diabetes.

As a result, Yuli Cai and his colleagues from the Departments of Cariology, Infectious Diseases and Endocrinology at the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China came to the conclusion that their study was the first to show that Fasting blood sugar≥7.0 mmol/L was a predictor of mortality in patients with COVID-19 independent of diabetes history. "Besides that, patients with diabetes revealed senior age and much severer inflammatory responses, as well as increased incidences of comorbidities and complications compared with those without diabetes", the authors revealed.