Abstract: Effects of Metformin, Insulin on Hematological Parameters of COVID-19 Patients with Type 2 Diabetes ORIGINAL PAPER doi: 10.5455/medarh.2022.76.329-332 MED ARCH. 2022 OCT; 76(5): 329-332 RECEIVED: JUL 04, 2022 ACCEPTED: AUG 10, 2022 Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, Ternopil, Ukraine 1 2 Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod, Ukraine Uzhhorod, Ukraine 3 Department of Internal Diseases, Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod, Ukraine 4 5 Transcarpathian Regional Clinical Infectious Hospital, Uzhhorod, Ukraine Corresponding author: Pavlo Petakh, MD. Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology, I. Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University, 46001 Ternopil, Ukraine. E-mail: pavlo@gmail. com. ORCID ID: http//www.orcid.org/00000002-0860-4445. Effects of Metformin, Insulin on Hematological Parameters of COVID-19 Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Pavlo Petakh1,2, Vasilij Griga2, Issah Bin Mohammed3, Kateryna Loshak4, Ivan Poliak5, Aleksandr Kamyshnyiy1 ABSTRACT Background: COVID-19 infection caused by SARS-COV-2 can result in multi-organ injuries and significant mortality in severe and critical patients, particularly those with type 2 diabetes as a comorbidity. Metformin and insulin are the main diabetes medications that affect the outcome of patients with COVID-19. Objective: The purpose of our study was to find out the features of the hematological indicators of patients with COVID-19 patients and type 2 diabetes. Methods: This is a retrospective study of the hospital confirmed COVID-19 patients between January to March 2022, who were admitted to Transcarpathian Regional Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital (Uzhhorod, Ukraine). Results: The effect of type 2 diabetes, metformin, and insulin on COVID-19 were analyzed, respectively. Demographics and blood laboratory indices were collected. In patients who took metformin, the level of CRP was significantly lower than in patients who did not take metformin (24 mg/L [IQR 15 - 58] vs 52 mg/L, [IQR 22–121], P = 0.046). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that pre-admission metformin use may benefit COVID-19 patients with type 2 diabetes. Keywords: COVID-19, diabetes, metformin, insulin. 1. BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), was first reported in December 2019 (1, 2). The severity of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic to severe infection leading to death (1). Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects over 463 million people around the world (3). Studies reported that 20–50% of COVID-19 patients have diabetes depending on different areas (4). Also diabetic patients with COVID-19 had poorer prognosis compared to non-diabetic patients (5-7). The diabetes medication regimen may have influenced the progression (8, 9). The most commonly used diabetes medications are metformin and insulin. Theoretical evidence suggests that metformin may be beneficial for reducing proinflammatory and profibrotic states (2, 10, 11) and improving immune response (12). Insulin treatment may increase the risk of poor prognosis by increasing renal Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) expression in diabetic mice (13). 2. OBJECTIVE In this study, we sought to perform a retrospective analysis of metformin and insulin effects in COVID-19 patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). © 2022 Pavlo Petakh,..