Association of Diabetes and Outcomes in Patients with COVID-19: A Propensity Score Matched Analyses from a French Retrospective Cohort

Abstract Background: To compare the clinical outcomes between patients with and without diabetes admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods: Retrospective multicentre cohort study from 24 academic tertiary medical centres in France including 2851 patients (675 with diabetes) hospitalised for COVID-19 between February 26 and April 20, 2020. A propensity score matching method (1:1 matching including patient characteristics, medical history, vital signs, and laboratory results) was used to compare patients with and without diabetes (n=603 in each group). The primary outcome was admission to intensive care unit (ICU) or in-hospital death. Results: Patients with diabetes were older (71 ± 13 vs. 65 ± 18 years; p<0.001), were less often female (38% vs. 44%; p<0.001) and more likely to have comorbidities: hypertension (79% vs 42%; p<0.001), coronary heart disease (23% vs 9%; p<0.001), stroke (13% vs 8%; p<0.001), heart failure (17% vs 9%; p<0.001), chronic kidney disease (26% vs 10%; p<0.001), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (7% vs 5%; p<0.05). The primary outcome occurred in 584 (36.4%) patients with diabetes compared to 246 (26.8%) in those without diabetes (p<0.001). After propensity score matching, the risk of primary outcome was similar in patients with and without diabetes (hazard ratio [HR] 1.16, 95%CI 0.95-1.41, p=0.14) and was 1.29 (95%CI 0.97 – 1.69) for in-hospital mortality, 1.26 (95%CI 0.93 – 1.72) for mortality without transfer in ICU, and 1.14 (95%CI 0.88 – 1.47) for transfer to ICU.Conclusions: In this retrospective cohort of patients hospitalised for COVID-19, diabetes was not significantly associated with a higher risk of COVID-19 severe outcomes after propensity score matching.Trial registration NCT04344327