Proportion of Patients With HbA1c Corresponding to Prediabetes and Diabetes Ranges Without Previous Diagnosis in a Covid-19 Unit in Mexico City

Mexico has been one of the most affected countries by COVID-19, with case rate of 1195.32 per 100,000 patients and one of the highest mortality rates worldwide. Diabetes has been found a major risk factor for severe COVID-19. Mexico has a high prevalence of diabetes, estimated around 10.3%. On top of this, recent estimates suggest that 4.1% of the population has diabetes but does not have a proper diagnosis. We conducted a retrospective study in patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in tertiary private hospital in Mexico City from March 15th to July 10th, 2020. We classified patients as having diabetes or prediabetes if it was registered in the electronical medical record. Patients were classified as newly diagnosed diabetes if they had an HbA1c on admission greater or equal than 6.5%. A total of 144 measurements of HbA1c were done on non-diabetic patients. Eighteen patients (12.5%) had a level of HbA1c equal or higher than 6.5%, while 70 (48.6%) patients had a level between 5.7% and 6.5%. Of the patients with HbA1c levels suggesting prior diabetes, 9 (50%) of them did not have hyperglycemia (>140 mg/dl) on admission. Our findings suggest that Mexican patients with COVID-19 might need HbA1c measurements regardless of glucose levels on admission since unknown diabetes is frequent and might modify in-hospital glucose management and discharge follow up and treatment.