Features of laboratory parameters in the new coronavirus infection COVID-19 against the background of diabetes mellitus and chronic heart failure

Introduction. The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020. New waves of different virus genotypes regularly roll across the globe. Recent studies show the most serious prognosis for patients with known cardiovascular disease, indicating a possible relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection and an increase in new cases of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes regardless of the severity of the pathology. If this trend is true, with hundreds of millions of infected patients the disease burden might presage a potentially alarming rise of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in the future.

The aim is to study the laboratory test results of patients with novel coronavirus infection COVID-19 with underlying type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic heart failure.

Materials and methods. A  total of  51  patients with a  verified diagnosis of  moderately severe novel coronovirus infection COVID-19 with underlying type 2 diabetes and chronic heart failure were included in the study. All patients underwent quantitative laboratory blood tests. Correlation analysis was carried out using the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Results and discussion. In our opinion, the most interesting were numerous correlations between glucose levels and internal organs and systems dysfunction markers: with bilirubin levels, international normalized ratios, creatinine levels, with carbon dioxide (ctCO2 ) levels, bases (BE) levels, with the bicarbonate (HCO3  act) levels. The most pronounced (rs  = 0.74) was the correlation between glucose levels and basophil counts, which may suggest a  possible effect of  hypersensitivity mechanisms on the severity of hyperglycemia in patients with COVID-19.

Conclusions. The hyperglycemia level indicates the severity of not only metabolic acidosis, but also the internal organs and systems dysfunction in patients with novel coronavirus infection COVID-19 with underlying type 2 diabetes and heart failure. 

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