The Effects of Diabetes and Being Overweight on Patients with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

Simona Kirbiš; Nina Sobotkiewicz; Barbara Antolinc Schaubach; Jernej Završnik; Peter Kokol; Matej Završnik; Helena Blažun Vošner

doi:10.3390/idr15060067

The Effects of Diabetes and Being Overweight on Patients with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome

Infect Dis Rep. 2023 Dec 6;15(6):747-757. doi: 10.3390/idr15060067.

Authors

Simona Kirbiš¹, Nina Sobotkiewicz¹, Barbara Antolinc Schaubach¹, Jernej Završnik^{2

3}, Peter Kokol^{4

5

6}, Matej Završnik⁷, Helena Blažun Vošner^{6

8}

Affiliations

¹ Pneumophtisiology Department, General Health Organizational Unit, Community Healthcare Center dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
² Paediatric Department, Children and Youth Protection Unit, Community Healthcare Center dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
³ Alma Mater Europaea-ECM, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
⁴ Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
⁶ Scientific Research Department, Community Healthcare Center dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
⁷ Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology, Internal Medicine Clinic, University Clinical Center, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia.
⁸ Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, 2000 Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia.

Abstract

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) remains a challenge and may continue to pose a major health problem in the future. Moreover, the influences of type 2 diabetes and being overweight on PCS remain unclear. This study aimed to assess these influences. We performed an observational study from October 2020 to July 2022, which included 466 patients (269 males and 197 females) with a median age of 65. They were hospitalized due to COVID-19 pneumonia and had persistent symptoms after 1 month of COVID-19 infection. The patients were divided into four groups according to the study objectives: patients with type 2 diabetes, overweight patients, overweight patients with type 2 diabetes, and average-weight patients without type 2 diabetes. The clinical and demographic data collected during hospitalization and regular visits to the Community Healthcare Center dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor were analyzed. Our results showed that type 2 diabetes patients had more difficult courses of treatment and longer hospitalizations. Moreover, more type 2 diabetes patients underwent rehabilitation than the other study groups. The prevailing symptoms of our patients with PCS were dyspnea and fatigue, mostly among female patients with type 2 diabetes. Our study also showed that more women with type 2 diabetes and overweight women with type 2 diabetes suffered from secondary infections. Furthermore, more overweight patients were treated in the intensive care unit than patients from the other groups. However, our study showed an interesting result: patients with type 2 diabetes had the shortest PCS durations. Type 2 diabetes and being overweight are risk factors for PCS onset and prolonged duration. Therefore, our data that revealed a shorter duration of PCS in type 2 diabetes patients than the other investigated groups was unexpected. We believe that answering the questions arising from our unexpected results will improve PCS treatment in general.

Keywords: COVID-19 pneumonia; diabetes; observational study; overweight; post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.