A number of people develop diabetes after recovering from Covid-19.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — So far, the cause of Covid-19 can cause new cases diabetes has not been clearly revealed. One possibility is that the virus could impair the pancreas’ ability to secrete insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar.
Another theory is that a strong immune response to Covid-19 results in a slight increase in inflammation resulting in low-grade inflammation, which impairs insulin secretion and sensitivity. Experts are still exploring the link between Covid-19 and diabetes.
All types of diabetes have symptoms blood sugar high, but it’s a different condition. Type 2 is the most common, and can be associated with diet and exercise. Usually in type 2 diabetes, people become resistant to the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar.
In contrast, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Other types of diabetes include gestational diabetes which can develop in pregnant women.
A number of studies have found an increased risk of being diagnosed with diabetes after Covid-19 infection, including a January US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that looked at children.
New study in journal Diabetology found that people who had Covid-19 had about a 28 percent increased risk of a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, compared with those who had an acute upper respiratory infection that wasn’t Covid-19.
Researchers from Germany compared data from more than 35,000 Covid-19 patients with the same number of people with non-Covid-19 infections. They found no increased risk for other types of diabetes.
a study JAMA Network Open in February also found that people who tested positive for Covid-19 had twice the risk of a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
About seven percent of adults hospitalized with Covid-19 receive a new diabetes diagnosis within five months. That’s compared to 3.6 percent of adults without Covid-19.
“There are a lot of challenges interpreting the data,” said Jason Block, an internist and professor at Harvard Medical School who is the study’s senior author JAMAas reported by Fox NewsWednesday (23/3/2022).
Many people haven’t seen a doctor in a long time during the pandemic, so they may have diabetes without knowing it. In addition, steroids, a drug commonly used for severe COVID-19 patients, can temporarily raise blood sugar and may also trigger diabetes in patients at risk for the condition.
There are several possible biological reasons why a diagnosis of diabetes might follow a Covid-19 infection. Studies have shown that viruses can infect and damage beta cells in the pancreas, thereby producing less insulin.
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