medwireNews: Chinese researchers say that some COVID-19 patients present with ketosis, which may progress to diabetic ketoacidosis in those with diabetes.
Juyi Li (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan) and colleagues report in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism that 6.4% of 658 patients with COVID-19 had ketosis at hospital admission.
Over a third (35.7%) of these patients had diabetes, with only one of these having type 1 diabetes, compared with just 19.6% of the whole cohort.
And 20.0% of the patients who had diabetes progressed to diabetic ketoacidosis, of whom 26.7% died, whereas 7.4% of those without diabetes progressed to severe acidosis and 14.3% died.
But despite ketosis being associated with an increased mortality risk, having diabetes was not associated with further significant increase to this risk, although patients with diabetes had a longer average length of hospital stay, at a median of 33 days versus 17 days for patients with ketosis but no diabetes.
However, COVID-19 patients with diabetes were significantly older than those without, and had markedly higher rates of hypertension and coronary heart disease.
“The mechanism[s] of COVID-19-induced ketosis, ketoacidosis or [diabetic ketoacidosis] need further research,” conclude the researchers.
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2020 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature Group
24 April 2020: The coronavirus pandemic is affecting all healthcare professionals across the globe. Medicine Matters’ focus, in this difficult time, is the dissemination of the latest data to support you in your research and clinical practice, based on the scientific literature. We will update the information we provide on the site, as the data are published. However, please refer to your own professional and governmental guidelines for the latest guidance in your own country.