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Objective: There are several clinical outcomes associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, including pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and death. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether serum cortisol levels affect COVID-19 prognosis. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted with COVID-19 pneumonia patients hospitalized in an internal medicine clinic at the Haseki Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul from March 13 to May 31, 2020. Demographics, laboratory test results, and clinical outcomes of the patients were recorded. The patients were divided into two groups based on whether they were hospitalized for 1-9 days or =10 days. Both groups were classified according to their average age and duration of hospitalization/discharge, and laboratory parameters were analyzed. Results: This study was conducted on 129 COVID-19 pneumonia patients, 13 of whom died during the study period. The mean age was 68.7±10.9 years for nonsurvivors and 55.7±15.9 years for survivors (p=0.001). Serum cortisol levels were significantly elevated in patients with a long hospital stay. While there was no significant difference in the hemogram or biochemical parameters of the two groups, correlation analysis showed a close relationship between serum cortisol levels and length of hospitalization. Conclusion: Cortisol is a reliable predictor of the length of hospital stay and prognosis of COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Insulin resistance is one of the most important risk factors for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) is a marker used to show insulin resistance. Triglyceride/Glucose index (TgG index) is a parameter that can be used to predict NAFLD and is as important as HOMA-IR. In this study, we aimed to determine the value of the HOMA-IR score and TgG index in predicting NAFLD. Methods: 986 patients who applied to University of Health Sciences Haseki Training and Research Hospital Internal Medicine Clinic between 2017-2018 and underwent an abdominal ultrasonography scan for any reason were included in the study retrospectively. All medical cases here were investigated in terms of all clinic and laboratory aspects in order to exclude other possible liver-related diseases before they were diagnosed with NAFLD. The patients were categorized and grouped in two different ways. The first is the group with or without NAFLD; the second group was categorized as the control group, prediabetic group and type 2 diabetic group. Results: Our study was conducted with a total of 986 patients, including 470 patients with NAFLD and 516 patients without NAFLD. When the TgG index is calculated; a statistically significant increase was observed in the incidence of NAFLD at levels above 8.4 (p<0.001). The correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between the TgG index and HOMA-IR (r=0.438). TgG index (p<0.001 OR=3.702), HOMA-IR (p=0.003, OR=1.143), ALT elevation (p=0.001, OR=1.020) were found to be the most effective risk factors when the Backward Stepwise method was used. Conclusion: The TgG index was found to be a remarkable predictor-parameter for NAFLD. While HOMA-IR increases the risk of NAFLD by 1.1 times, the the TgG index increases it 3.7 times. In our study, it was also observed that the TgG index increased the risk of NAFLD, independent of HOMA-IR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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