High Prevalence of Diabetes Among Hospitalized COVID-19 Minority Patients: Data from a Single Tertiary Hospital

Background and Aim Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common comorbidity in the minority population and is associated with poor outcomes in COVID-19 patients. We hypothesized that COVID-19 patients with pre-existing diabetes mellitus are prone to fatal outcomes compared to non-diabetic patients. We aimed to illustrate the characteristics and outcomes and identify the risk factors for in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 patients with DM. Methods In this single-center retrospective study, electronic medical records of hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis at Howard University Hospital (HUH) from March 2020 to Dec 2021 were analyzed. Clinical, demographic, and serological information, as well as outcomes, were recorded and analyzed. Results Among 463 COVID-19 patients, 66.3% ( n = 307) were African Americans (AA) and 35.9% ( n = 166) had diabetes, with a mean age of 64 years. The majority of the diabetic patients were AA ( n = 123, 74.1%) and had a higher mortality rate ( n = 26, 74.3%) compared to others. Length of stay in the hospital is significantly more for the diabetic than for the non-diabetic patients (11.3 vs. 8.3 days, p = 0.03). A higher proportion of ICU admission (32.3% vs. 17.9%, p =