Thrombotic risk assessed by PAI-1 in patients with COVID-19: The influence of hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: To assess thrombotic risk with PAI-1 levels in patients with COVID-19, to evaluate PAI-1 differences between hyperglycemic and/or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) versus non-hyperglycemic patients, and to analyze the association of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) with hyperglycemia and T2DM.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study carried out in 181 patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Two groups were formed: the patients with hyperglycemia at admission and/or previously diagnosed T2DM group and the non-hyperglycemic group. Fibrinolysis was assessed by measuring PAI-1 levels by ELISA.

RESULTS: The mean age was 59.4±16.1 years; 55.8% were male 54.1% of patients presented obesity, 38.1% had pre-existing T2DM and 50.8% had admission hyperglycemia and/or pre-existing T2DM. The patients with admission hyperglycemia and/or preexisting T2DM had higher PAI-1 compared with non-hyperglycemic patients [197.5 (128.8-315.9) vs 158.1 (113.4-201.4) ng/mL; p=0.031]. The glucose levels showed a positive correlation with PAI-1 levels (r=0.284, p=0.041). A multivariate logistic regression analysis showed association of PAI-1 level and hyperglycemia and pre-existing T2DM with severity of COVID-19.

CONCLUSION: Patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection with preexisting T2DM or hyperglycemia detected during their hospitalization presented a greater increase in PAI-1 levels, which suggests that hyperglycemia contributes directly to the hypercoagulable state and probably a worse outcome from the patients.