Blood glucose levels in elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes during COVID-19 outbreak: a retrospective study in a single center

  1. Ting Xue
  2. Qianwen Li
  3. Qiongyao Zhang
  4. Wei Lin
  5. Junping Wen
  6. Li Li
  7. Gang Chen

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Abstract

Aims

Ideal glycemic control is of great importance for diabetic patients during public health emergencies of infectious diseases as long-term hyperglycemic are not only associated with chronic complications but also vital drivers of common and life-threatening infections. The present study was designed to investigate the changes of blood glucose levels in elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes(T2D) during COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods

This retrospective study focused on the T2D outpatients at Fujian Provincial Hospital aged 65 years old and above who received baseline test for fasting plasma glucose and/or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) between January 1, 2019 and March 8, 2019 and were followed up on fasting plasma glucose and/or HbA1c in the same period in 2020. The baseline and follow-up data were analyzed with the paired-samples T-test.

Results

A total of 135 elderly subjects with T2D with baseline and follow-up fasting plasma glucose and 50 elderly subjects with T2D with baseline and follow-up HbA1c were analyzed, respectively. The baseline and follow-up fasting plasma glucose were 7.08 ± 1.80 and 7.48±2.14 mmol/L, respectively (P=0.008). The baseline and follow-up HbA1c were 7.2±1.7% and 7.4±1.8%, respectively (P=0.158).

Conclusions

Elderly subjects with T2D had higher fasting plasma glucose levels during COVID-19 outbreak. We should pay more attension to the management of diabetics during public health emergencies.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.03.31.20048579: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementIRB: 2.1 Study Population: This retrospective study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fujian Provincial Hospital.
    Consent: Due to the retrospective nature of the study, informed consent was waived.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    The present study has several limitations. Firstly, this is a retrospective study with a small sample size in a single center, which should not be a negligible flaw. The findings in the present study should be interpreted with some caution as the study size was quite limited. Secondly, fasting glucose was significantly affected by the diet in last night and physical activity before the test, which could not accurately reflect blood glucose control level. The results of continuous blood glucose monitoring were better indicators for short-term blood glucose levels.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  2. Version published to 10.1101/2020.03.31.20048579v1 on medRxiv