ABSTRACT

Objective: Diabetes is one of the major risk factor responsible for poor outcomes of corona virus disease (COVID-19). Association between pre infection HbA1c level in diabetic individuals and severity of COVID-19 based on the requirement for hospitalization, will be helpful in controlling and defeating COVID-19.

Methods: This was cross sectional study carried out in Khalifa Gul Nawaz, (KGN) hospital, Bannu, Pakistan. 160 diabetic individuals with COVID-19 were registered in this study. All the registered subjects were divided into Hospitalized COVID-19 Daibetic, (HCD group) and Non Hospitalized COVID-19 Daibetic (NHCD groups). In HCD group 32 diabetic individual with a deadly disease and severe complications of COVID-19 were considered while in NHCD group 128 diabetic individuals with mild complications of COVID-19 were present. Data analysis was performed by using IBM SPSS version 26.

Results: Mean age of HCD group was significantly higher (p< 0.05) as compared to NHCD group. Among the different co-morbidities hypertension and chronic kidney diseases were significantly associated with hospitalization of COVID-19 individuals. But, after adjusting for several preexisting clinical factors, HbA1c ≥9% was the only predictor linked with a substantially higher risk of hospitalization in a multivariate analysis.

Conclusion: Higher pre infection levels of HbA1c are clear markers for the hospitalization of COVID-19. Using HbA1c levels ≥ 9, we can highlight the high risk population and can successfully control and defeat COVID-19.