Clinical and laboratory COVID-19 features in hospitalized patients with concomitant diabetes mellitus type 2: A retrospective study

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in comorbidity structures and its effect on the clinical course in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in south region of Kazakhstan. Material and methods: A retrospective analysis of data from 918 patients with COVID-19 treated at the City Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital was carried out. Pearson's Chi-square test and Student's t-test were conducted. Results: In Kazakhstan, diabetes mellitus occupies the second position in the structure of comorbidities in patients with COVID-19 with a share of 20%. Diabetes mellitus in patients most often occurs in combination with cardiovascular diseases and arterial hypertension (20.3% and 16.3%, respectively). Combination of diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension and other diseases was detected in 72.4% of patients. Combination of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular and other diseases was detected in 32.5%. In diabetes mellitus patients, COVID-19 was more severe, the hospital stay was longer, and patients over 60 years of age suffered. These patients had a combination of diabetes mellitus with arterial hypertension, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. Hyperglycemia, elevated blood pressure, rapid breathing, and low saturation were more common for these patients. Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus ranks second in the structure of comorbidities in COVID-19 in the south region of Kazakhstan and is characterized by a combination with cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension and obesity. In patients with diabetes, COVID-19 is more severe, which affects the length of stay in the hospital, the mortality rate and the need for transfer to the Intensive Care Unit

LIOFeron®TB/LTBI: A novel and reliable test for LTBI and tuberculosis

Objectives: High accuracy diagnostic screening tests for tuberculosis (TB) are required to improve the diagnosis of both active TB and latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection (LTBI). The novel IGRA LIOFeron®TB/LTBI assay was tested and its accuracy was compared to the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Plus assay. Methods: A total of 389 subjects were enrolled in two cohorts and classified as healthy, active TB or LTBI persons. The blood of all the patients was tested with LIOFeron®TB/LTBI assay, containing MTB alanine dehydrogenase, able to differentiate active TB from LTBI diagnosis. The results obtained with both IGRAs, performed on the same 250 samples, were finally compared. Results: The two assays demonstrated an excellent concordance of their results with patients' diagnosis of MTB infection. ROC analysis for QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Plus showed sensitivity and specificity respectively of 98% and 97% in diagnosing active TB patients and 85% and 94% in diagnosing LTBI subjects. LIOFeron®TB/LTBI assay showed sensitivity and specificity respectively of 90% and 98% in diagnosing active TB patients and 94% and 97% in diagnosing LTBI subjects. Conclusions: The two IGRAs displayed the same high accuracy in diagnosing MTB infection/TB disease, and LIOFeron®TB/LTBI assay demonstrated higher sensitivity than QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Plus test in LTBI detection. Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Tuberculosis diagnosis, IGRA, Alanine dehydrogenas