Comprehensive comparison of clinicoradiological, laboratory, and prognostic factors of community-acquired pneumonia in diabetic and nondiabetic hospitalized patients

Background/aim: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is one of the leading infectious causes of mortality, and diabetes mellitus is a globally prevalent disease. Consequently, the cooccurrence of these two disorders can be common and create challenging medical conditions. Therefore, it was aimed to compare the various aspects of CAP in diabetic and nondiabetic patients, in order to have a comprehensive and comparative picture of the differences. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, CAP patients with and without diabetes were assessed for clinicoradiological signs, laboratory features, disease severity, and pneumonia outcomes. Results: Analyzed herein were 172 CAP patients (77 had diabetes and 95 were nondiabetic). Clinical and radiological signs of pneumonia were mostly similar between the groups, except for purulent sputum, which was more prevalent among the nondiabetic patients. The laboratory results were also mostly similar. However, analysis of the outcomes and prognosis showed different results. The diabetic patients had a longer mean duration of hospital stay (8.52 days vs. 7.93 days, p = 0.015), higher median pneumonia severity based on the CURB-65 criteria (3 vs. 2, p = 0.016), and higher intensive care unit (ICU) admission requirement (22.1% vs. 7.3%, p = 0.004). Moreover, the mortality rate for the diabetic patients was nonsignificantly higher (16.8% vs. 15.7%, p = 0.453). Furthermore, the results of the logistic regression analysis showed that the diabetic patients had significantly higher odds of experiencing more severe forms of pneumonia (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 5.77, 95% CI: 2.52-13.20), requiring ICU hospitalization (AOR: 3.56, 95% CI: 1.39-9.11), and having a longer hospital stay (AOR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.09-3.71). In addition, although there was no significant relationship between the severity of pneumonia and the amount of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in the diabetic patients (p = 0.940), the higher level of HbA1c in the nondiabetic patients was significantly correlated with a higher severity of pneumonia (p = 0.002). Conclusion: While diabetic patients with CAP have the same clinicoradiological and laboratory features as nondiabetic patients, the presence of diabetes can significantly worsen the outcomes and prognosis of pneumonia.