Influence of nutritional status and diagnosis of diabetes in the clinical evolution of hospitalized patients with COVID-19

Introduction: At the end of 2019 in the city of Wuhan, China, the first cases of respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) were described. Obesity or malnutrition, associated with comorbidities such as hypertension and diabetes can significantly increase the risk of hospitalization and death in these patients. Goals: to evaluate the relationship between nutritional status and the presence of comorbidities with the length of hospital stay, biochemical parameters and clinical outcome of patients with COVID-19. Materials and methods: a retrospective study that is part of a multicenter project from the Federal University of Alagoas and with a collaborating center at the Federal University of Pernambuco, carried out from the collection of data from medical records of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, who were hospitalized in a hospital in Pernambuco and one in Alagoas from March to December 2020. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 20.0, and the significance level adopted was 5%. Results: The sample consisted of 97 patients, mostly elderly, where 66.9% of patients had hypertension and 41.2% diabetes. The group with a previous diagnosis of diabetes had a longer hospital stay when compared to the group without this comorbidity (p = 0.050). The mean BMI was 26.2 +/- 4.85 kg/m(2), where most patients were overweight (46.2%) and 8.8% were underweight. In the analysis of the association between the study variables and the clinical outcome, it was observed that age and the diagnosis of diabetes were associated with the outcome of death. Conclusion: Worse clinical prognosis, increased length of hospital stay and higher risk of mortality were observed among diabetic and older patients.