The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between type 2 diabetes, plasma glucose levels, and antidiabetic medication on mortality rate in COVID-19 patients.

The data for this study was collected from a single center in Lombardy, Italy and involved 379 COVID-19 patients who were admitted between February 20th and April 9th of 2020.

90 patients in the study had type 2 diabetes and it was found that the mortality rate in diabetic patients was double that of patients without diabetes.

Although after correcting for age and sex, type 2 diabetes was not found to be independently associated with risk of mortality.

Elevated levels of plasma glucose and IL-6 were independently associated with higher mortality rates.

The use of insulin and β-blockers as antidiabetic medicine were also associated with higher rates of mortality while the use of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors was associated with lower mortality rates.