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Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has quickly turned into a global pandemic with close to 5 million cases and more than 320,000 deaths. Cancer patients constitute a group that is expected to be at risk and poor prognosis in COVID pandemic. We aimed to investigate how cancer patients are affected by COVID-19 infection, its clinical course and the factors affecting mortality. Methods In our single-center retrospective study, we included cancer patients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 in our hospital. Demographic, clinical, treatment, and laboratory data were obtained from electronic medical records. Logistic regression methods were used to investigate risk factors associated with in-hospital death. Results In the hospital, 4489 patients were hospitalized with COVID infection and 77 were cancer patients. The mean age of cancer patients was 61.9 ± 10.9 and 44 of them were male (62%). While the mortality rate in non-cancer patients was 1.51% (n = 68), this rate was significantly higher in cancer patients, 23.9% (n = 17). The stage of the disease, receiving chemotherapy in the last 30 days also lymphopenia, elevated troponin I, d-dimer, CRP, and CT findings were associated with severe disease and mortality. Severe lung involvement (OR = 22.9, p = 0.01) and lymphopenia (OR = 0.99, p = 0.04) are the most important factors influencing survival in logistic regression. Conclusions The disease is more severe in cancer patients and mortality is significantly higher than non-cancer patients. These data show that it may be beneficial to develop dynamic prevention, early diagnosis and treatment strategies for this vulnerable group of patients who are affected by the infection so much.

Aim: In this study, we aimed to investigate the serum magnesium (Mg) levels in diabetic and prediabetic patients and its correlation with age, body-mass index, HOMA-IR, serum fasting glucose, HbA1c, and insulin levels.Methods: In this retrospective study, a total of 130 patients consisted of newly diagnosed prediabetes (Group PD) (n=63) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (Group D) (n=67) were included. Patients' age, body mass index, serum Mg, glucose and insulin, HOMA-IR and HbA1c were recorded. The prediabetes and type 2 diabetes diagnoses had been made according to WHO criteria at the time of diagnosis.Results: In group D, the mean Mg level (1.88 ± 0.17 mg/dl) was significantly lower than group PD (1.96 ± 0.17 mg/dl) (p = 0.007). Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant negative correlation between Mg and glucose (r = -0.390, p = 0.001) and HOMA-IR (r = -0.284; p = 0.022) in the group D. No correlation was found between serum Mg level and serum insulin, HbA1c, age, and body-mass index (p = 0.801, 0.087, 0.611 and 0.691, respectively). In group PD, serum insulin, HbA1c, glucose, HOMA-IR, age, and body-mass index were not corraleted with serum Mg levels (p = 0.801, 0.087, 0.939, 0.998, 0.611 and 0.691, respectively). Conclusıon: We showed that while there was a negative correlation between magnesium levels and HOMA-IR and fasting blood glucose levels in diabetic patients, but this correlation was not present in prediabetic patients. Our results suggest that serum Mg level is associated with metabolic control of type 2 diabetes and thus it can be considered in these patients.

Objective The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is growing worldwide, as well as in the aging population, and its comorbidity and mortality rates are higher in aging people than they are in young people. It has been observed that the number of drugs used increases in aging patients, especially in diabetic patients. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between polypharmacy and modified Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Katz ADL) scores in aging diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Materials and methods This prospective study included 184 diabetic and 62 non-diabetic subjects who were ≥65 years old. Comorbidity was determined with CCI, and dependency on daily basic activities was assessed with Katz ADL. Results CCI and the number of drugs were significantly higher in diabetic groups (P = .001). In all subjects and in the diabetic group, there was a negative correlation between CCI and Katz ADL (r = -0.343, P = .001; r = -0.383, P = .001, respectively); there was a positive correlation between CCI and number of drugs (r = 0.430, P = .001; r = 0.248, P = .001, respectively). Conclusion We found an increase in the number of drugs taken by the aging patients, positively correlated with the CCI score. The increase in the number of drugs used is closely related to the insufficiency in daily life activity and comorbidity, and this predicts 10-year survival. Patients should be directed to special centers or physicians who will be scheduled for multidisciplinary treatment for the prevention of polypharmacy, especially in the aging.

Background/aim: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between long-term mortality and survival with ABO blood group in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Materials and methods: This observational study was carried out in two tertiary hospitals. 192 patients followed for 72 months due to acute coronary syndrome, showing a balanced distribution for ejection fraction, additional diseases and age, were included in the study. Results: The survival rate was evaluated in 72 months follow-up. In the survival analysis according to individual blood groups; there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. When the patients were divided into two groups, there was 24.39% mortality in those with O blood group and 15.23% mortality in those without O blood group (p>0.05). Although it was not statistically significant, in patients with O blood group, an increasing tendency was observed in 72 month mortality (p>0.05). There was no association between Rh antigen and survival in this study (p=0.79). Conclusion: Although it was not able to reach statistically significance limit, a decreasing tendency in long-term survival was observed in patients with O blood group compared to those without O blood group in patients with acute coronary syndrome. The results should be confirmed by larger prospective studies.