Cardiometabolic Therapy and Mortality in Very Old Patients With Diabetes Hospitalized due to COVID-19

Jose Manuel Ramos-Rincón, Luis M Pérez-Belmonte, Francisco Javier Carrasco-Sánchez, Sergio Jansen-Chaparro, Mercedes De-Sousa-Baena, José Bueno-Fonseca, Maria Pérez-Aguilar, Coral Arévalo-Cañas, Marta Bacete Cebrian, Manuel Méndez-Bailón, Isabel Fiteni Mera, Andrés González García, Francisco Navarro Romero, Carlota Tuñón de Almeida, Gemma Muñiz Nicolás, Amara González Noya, Almudena Hernández Milian, Gema María García García, José Nicolás Alcalá Pedrajas, Virginia Herrero García, Luis Corral-Gudino, Pere Comas Casanova, Héctor Meijide Míguez, José Manuel Casas-Rojo, Ricardo Gómez-Huelgas, SEMI-COVID-19 Network

The effects of cardiometabolic drugs on the prognosis of diabetic patients with COVID-19, especially very old patients, are not well-known. This work aims to analyze the association between preadmission cardiometabolic therapy (antidiabetic, antiaggregant, antihypertensive, and lipid-lowering drugs) and in-hospital mortality among patients ≥80 years with type 2 diabetes mellitus hospitalized for COVID-19. We conducted a nationwide, multicenter, observational study in patients ≥80 years with type 2 diabetes mellitus hospitalized for COVID-19 between March 1 and May 29, 2020. The primary outcome measure was in-hospital mortality. A multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed to assess the association between preadmission cardiometabolic therapy and in-hospital mortality. Of the 2,763 patients ≥80 years old hospitalized due to COVID-19, 790 (28.6%) had T2DM. Of these patients, 385 (48.7%) died during admission. On the multivariate analysis, the use of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (AOR 0.502, 95%CI 0.309-0.815, p=0.005) and angiotensin receptor blockers (AOR 0.454, 95%CI 0.274-0.759, p=0.003) were independent protectors against in-hospital mortality whereas the use of acetylsalicylic acid was associated with higher in-hospital mortality (AOR 1.761, 95%CI 1.092-2.842, p=0.020). Other antidiabetic drugs, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and statins showed neutral association with in-hospital mortality. We found important differences between cardiometabolic drugs and in-hospital mortality in older patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus hospitalized for COVID-19. Preadmission treatment with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers could reduce in-hospital mortality; other antidiabetic drugs, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and statins seem to have a neutral effect; and acetylsalicylic acid could be associated with excess mortality.