DCA showed substantial net clinical benefit across threshold probabilities ranging from 0.10 to 0.60.<h4>Conclusion</h4>TLR2, IL-6, TNF-α, ESR, age, and duration of diabetes can serve as a combined biomarker panel to aid in the early diagnosis of pulmonary infection in T2DM patients at hospital admission. Here, TNF is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.