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Background: Diabetes is a risk factor for a severe course of COVID-19. We evaluated the characteristics and risk factors associated with undesirable outcomes in diabetic patients (DPs) hospitalized due to COVID-19., Materials and Methods: The data analysis of patients admitted between March 6, 2020, and May 31, 2021, to the University Hospital in Krakow (Poland), a reference center for COVID-19, was performed. The data were gathered from their medical records., Results: A total number of 5191 patients were included, of which 2348 (45.2%) were women. The patients were at the median age of 64 (IQR: 51-74) years, and 1364 (26.3%) were DPs. DPs, compared to nondiabetics, were older (median age: 70 years, IQR: 62-77 vs. 62, IQR: 47-72, and p  < 0.001) and had a similar gender distribution. The DP group had a higher mortality rate (26.2% vs. 15.7%, p  < 0.001) and longer hospital stays (median: 15 days, IQR: 10-24 vs. 13, IQR: 9-20, and p  < 0.001). DPs were admitted to the ICU more frequently (15.7% vs. 11.0%, p  < 0.001) and required mechanical ventilation more often (15.5% vs. 11.3%, p  < 0.001). In a multivariate logistic regression, factors associated with a higher risk of death were age >65 years, glycaemia >10 mmol/L, CRP and D-dimer level, prehospital insulin and loop diuretic use, presence of heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. Factors contributing to lower mortality were in-hospital use of statin, thiazide diuretic, and calcium channel blocker., Conclusion: In this large COVID-19 cohort, DPs constituted more than a quarter of hospitalized patients. The risk of death and other outcomes compared to nondiabetics was higher in this group. We identified a number of clinical, laboratory, and therapeutic variables associated with the risk of hospital death in DPs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Michał Kania et al.)

Purpose: COVID-19 has brought many challenges for providing quality healthcare for type 1 diabetes (T1DM). We evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the medical care, glycemic control, and selected outcomes in T1DM patients., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed medical records from 357 T1DM adults enrolled in the Program of Comprehensive Outpatient Specialist Care at the University Hospital in Krakow, and assessed differences in patient data from before the COVID-19 period (March 2019-February 2020) and after it started COVID-19 (March 2020-February 2021)., Results: The median HbA1c levels and the percentage of patients within the HbA1c target of <7 % (53 mmol/mol) were similar in both periods: before and after the beginning of the pandemic (6.86 % [51.5 mmol/mol], IQR 6.23-7.58 % [44.6-59.3 mmol/mol] vs. 6.9 % [51.9 mmol/mol], IQR 6.2-7.61 % [44.3-59.7 mmol/mol]; p = 0.50 and 56.3 % vs. 57.1 %, p = 0.42, respectively). However, we observed a rise in BMI and body weight (median 24.25, IQR 21.97-27.05 vs. 24.82, IQR 22.17-27.87 and median weight 71.0 IQR 61-82 vs. 72.55, IQR 55-85; p < 0.001 for both comparisons). There was no reduction in the numbers of total diabetes-related visits (median 4, IQR 4-5 vs. 5, IQR 4-5; p = 0.065), but the frequency of other specialist consultations decreased (2, IQR 0-2 vs. 1, IQR 0-2). During the pandemic, telehealth visits constituted of 1191 out of 1609 (71.6 %) total visits., Conclusions: In this single-center observation, the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a negative impact on glycemic control in T1DM patients, but the patients' weight did increase. Telemedicine proved to be a valuable tool for T1DM care., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The free androgen index (FAI) values differ among patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome; however, the differences are not fully understood or known. The aim of the study was to evaluate FAI in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in regard to the phenotype of the PCOS and insulin resistance status., Material and Methods: Anthropometric, hormonal, and biochemical parameters were assessed in 312 recruited women with PCOS. The FAI values were calculated in the reproductive and metabolic phenotypes of PCOS in groups of insulin resistance status based on the homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) > 2.0 or fasting insulin (FI) > 10 mmol/L. To test the relationship between individual variables, Spearman's correlation analysis, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and Student's t-test were used., Results: The correlation between FAI values and HOMA-IR and FI was 0.42 and 0.47, respectively, in PCOS patients. A two fold higher FAI value was observed in metabolic PCOS phenotype when compared to the reproductive one (8.51 ± 5.56 vs. 4.40 ± 2.45 for HOMA-IR and 8.73 ± 6.09 vs. 4.31 ± 3.39 for FI, respectively; p < 0.05)., Conclusions: PCOS patients are not a homogenous group in terms of FAI value. Patients with metabolic PCOS phenotype are characterised by two-fold higher FAI values compared with reproductive PCOS phenotype. Further studies on the metabolic and androgenic status of different types of PCOS phenotypes should be carried out.

Diagnosis and treatment of chronic urticaria (CU - Chronic Urticaria) is one of the most difficult issues in allergy practice. Studies on the etiopathogenesis of chronic urticaria suggest that environmental factors, immune, genetic and hormonal are involved in triggering and maintaining the reaction of hives. In practice, despite detailed diagnosis is usually not possible to determine the real cause of the disease. For this reason, the use of causal treatment for patients suffering from chronic urticaria is not possible and supportive treatment is often ineffective. 0.1% of the population suffers from chronic spontaneous urticaria, which main cause has not been detected. Very often CU coexists with autoimmune thyroid dysfunction. Studies confirm higher incidence of thyroid antibodies in patients with chronic urticaria than in the general population. We analyzed 100 patients who met the criteria for chronic urticaria according to the WHO, in Allergology Clinic of the University Hospital Jagiellonian University Medical College. According to our study 17.4% of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria occurred elevated titer of anti-TPO antibodies. In patients with non-spontaneous type of CU, elevated titer of anti-TPO antibodies only occurred in 8.3% of patients, and this difference was statistically significant p = < 0.003. All the patients had thyroid levels normal and there were no clinical symptoms of thyroid dysfunction. Our research indicates a link with autoimmune thyroid diseases, especially Hashimoto's disease, with a prevalence of CU. It is necessary to conduct further studies to confirm the relationship of pathogenic autoimmune thyroid disorders with the occurrence of CU, which will help to provide the causal treatment of spontaneous CU coexisting with high levels of anti-TPO antibodies in patients with euthyroid status.