Introduction. New onset of diabetes mellitus was noted as the commonest comorbidity in the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to a worse prognosis. Existing evidence showed that new-onset diabetes is associated with increased mortality compared to nondiabetic and known diabetic patients in the COVID-19 era. SARS-CoV-2 virus can worsen existing diabetes; at the same time, it can trigger new-onset diabetes that eventually worsens patient outcomes. Thus, this study is aimed at determining the prevalence and factors associated with new onset of diabetes mellitus among COVID-19 patients. Methods. Institution-based retrospective cross-sectional study design was conducted by reviewing 244 patient’s records in the Addis Ababa COVID-19 care center. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used. During bivariate analysis, variables with p ≤ 0.25 were transferred into multivariate analysis. Adjusted odds ratios to determine the strength and presence of the association with a 95% confidence interval and p value ≤ 0.05 were considered, respectively. Results. The mean age of the study participants was 53.2 years with ( SD = 13.35 ). The study findings showed that 31.1% (CI: 25.4-37.4) of COVID-19 patients had new onset of diabetes mellitus; of those, 11.8% had type 1 and 88.2% had type 2 diabetes. Being male ( aOR = 2.9 ; 95% CI: 1.2, 7.1), family history of hypertension ( aOR = 3.7 ; 95% CI: 1.3, 10.5), obesity ( aOR = 3.1 ; 95% CI: 1.01, 8.9), having pulmonary embolism ( aOR = 0.2 ; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.04), and hyperkalemia ( aOR = 9.3 ; 95% CI: 1.8, 47.3) showed statistically significant association with new onset of diabetes mellitus. Conclusion. A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients had been diagnosed with new onset of diabetes mellitus, and new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus is the most common diabetes mellitus type. Being male, obesity, having a pulmonary embolism, family history of hypertension, and hyperkalemia were independently associated with new onset of diabetes mellitus among COVID-19 patients. Therefore, focused interventions need to be strengthened towards the identified factors.

IntroductionCOVID-19 remains one of the leading causes of death seeking global public health attention. Diabetes mellitus is associated with severity and lethal outcomes up to death independent of other comorbidities. Nevertheless, information regarding the determinant factors that contributed to the increased mortality among diabetic COVID-19 patients is limited. Thus, this study aimed at identifying the determinants of mortality among COVID-19 infected diabetic patients.MethodsAn unmatched case-control study was conducted on 340 randomly selected patients by reviewing patient records. Data were collected using a structured extraction checklist, entered into Epi data V-4.4.2.2, and analyzed using SPSS V-25. Then, binary logistic regression was used for bivariate and multivariable analysis. Finally, an adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI and a p-value of less than 0.05 was used to determine the strength of association and the presence of a statistical significance consecutively.ResultsThe study was conducted on 340 COVID-19 patients (114 case and 226 controls). Patient age (AOR=4.90; 95% CI: 2.13, 11.50), severity of COVID-19 disease (AOR=4.95; 95% CI: 2.20, 11.30), obesity (AOR=7.78; 95% CI: 4.05, 14.90), hypertension (AOR=5.01; 95% CI: 2.40, 10.60), anemia at presentation (AOR=2.93; 95% CI: 1.29, 6.65), and AKI after hospital admission (AOR=2.80; 95% CI: 1.39, 5.64) had statistically significant association with increased mortality of diabetic patients with COVID-19 infection. Conversely, presence of RVI co-infection was found to be protective against mortality (AOR=0.35; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.90).ConclusionPatient age (<65years), COVID-19 disease severity (mild and moderate illness), presence of hypertension, obesity, anemia at admission, and AKI on admission was independently associated with increased mortality of diabetic COVID-19 patients. Contrariwise, the presence of RVI co-infection was found to be protective against patient death. Consequently, COVID-19 patients with diabetes demand untiring efforts, and focused management of the identified factors will substantially worth the survival of diabetic patients infected with COVID-19.What is already known on this topic?Diabetes mellitus is associated with severity and lethal outcomes up to death independent of other comorbidities. Previous studies indicated that diabetic patients have almost four times increased risk of severe disease and death due to COVID-19 infection. Consequently, with this increased mortality and other public health impacts, numerous reports have been evolved worldwide on the link between COVID-19 and DM, and diabetes management during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, information regarding the determinant factors that lead to the increased mortality among diabetic COVID-19 patients is not well-studied yet.What this study adds?Patient age (<65years), COVID-19 disease severity (mild and moderate illness), presence of hypertension, obesity, anemia at admission, and AKI on hospital admission were independently associated with increased mortality of COVID-19 patients with DM.In addition, RVI co-infection was found to be protective against patient death.