{"id":1822,"date":"2022-03-25T12:56:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T12:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linksus.net\/mild-covid-19-may-increase-diabetes-risk-medical-news-today\/"},"modified":"2022-03-25T12:56:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T12:56:57","slug":"mild-covid-19-may-increase-diabetes-risk-medical-news-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/2022\/03\/25\/mild-covid-19-may-increase-diabetes-risk-medical-news-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Mild COVID-19 may increase diabetes risk – Medical News Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a SARS-CoV-2 infection, some people develop long COVID<\/a>. These individuals may experience fatigue, brain fog, and general pain that can last for months.
A group of researchers recently investigated whether COVID-19 might also increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. They published their findings in the journal Diabetologia<\/em><\/a>.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), type 2 diabetes \u2014 the most common form of diabetes \u2014 affects approximately 1 in 10 people<\/a><\/hl-trusted-source> in the United States.
With such huge numbers of people experiencing a SARS-CoV-2 infection, even a relatively small increase in diabetes risk following COVID-19 could put considerable pressure on an already stretched health system.
According to the authors, the SARS-CoV-2 virus targets the pancreas \u2014 the site of insulin production. They also note that \u201cnew-onset hyperglycemia and insulin resistance have been reported in patients with\u201d COVID-19.
With this in mind, they set out to study the prevalence of type 2 diabetes following mild cases of COVID-19.
The authors accessed the patient records of 8.8 million people in Germany. Using these records, they honed in on people with either a COVID-19 or AURI diagnosis in a primary care setting.
The patients\u2019 initial visits were made from March 2020 through January 2021. The researchers then searched for individuals with either COVID-19 or AURI who also made follow-up appointments.
In all, the study compared 35,865 COVID-19 patient records with 35,865 AURI patient records.
The authors found that a higher percentage of people with COVID-19 developed type 2 diabetes in the months following infection.
Of those with COVID-19, 15.8 per 1,000 developed type 2 diabetes. Of those with AURIs, 12.3 per 1,000 people developed type 2 diabetes.
This means that the relative risk<\/a><\/hl-trusted-source> of developing diabetes was 28% greater in those with COVID-19. <\/strong>
\u201cCOVID-19 infection may lead to diabetes by upregulation of the immune system after remission, which may induce pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction and insulin resistance, or patients may have been at risk for developing diabetes due to having obesity or prediabetes, and the stress COVID-19 put on their bodies speeded it up,\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2013 Prof. Wolfgang Rathmann, lead author
Prof. Rathmann<\/a> is affiliated with the German Diabetes Center at Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Medical News Today<\/em> discussed these findings with Dr. Swapnil Khare<\/a> who was not involved in the study. Dr. Khare is an assistant professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.
Speaking about why there might be a link between COVID-19 and diabetes, she said, \u201cPrevious studies have shown that there is a link with viral infection and development of diabetes. They suggest that viral infection serves as a second trigger in people who are already predisposed to develop diabetes.\u201d
\u201cWe do know that COVID-19 causes an increase in inflammatory markers, which can cause pancreatic dysfunction,\u201d she explained. \u201cAlso, some medications used to treat [SARS-CoV-2] infection can increase the risk of diabetes.\u201d
This study could help shape how people are treated after COVID-19 symptoms clear up.
Dr. Khare told MNT<\/em> that we need to understand whether \u201cwe need to have standard screening for patients with [SARS-CoV-2] infections and when we should do that screening.\u201d
Additionally, the study may give healthcare providers an idea of what to expect in the future regarding patient load.
\u201cGiven the large number of people with COVID-19, these absolute numbers might translate into a substantial population-level burden and could further strain already overwhelmed health systems,\u201d Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly<\/a> posted on Twitter<\/a>. <\/strong>
Dr. Al-Aly is the director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center and the chief of research and education service at Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, MO.
The authors note that the study has some limitations. For instance, they could not account for participants\u2019 body mass index (BMI) in their analysis.
Because overweight and obesity are risk factors for diabetes, this may have influenced the results.
Also, as Prof. Rathmann explains, the researchers did not follow the participants for a long period of time:
\u201cFurther follow-up is needed to understand whether type 2 diabetes after mild COVID-19 is just temporary and can be reversed after they have fully recovered, or whether it leads to a chronic condition.\u201d<\/strong>
\u201cWe do need further studies to see if, type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 is reversible,\u201d Dr. Khare agreed before outlining some of the many remaining questions:
\u201cAre people who have other predisposing factors [\u2026] more susceptible to developing diabetes after COVID-19 or are we looking into new factors? Is there a difference between races and ethnicity? [The] average age is early 40s in this study, so we need further data to look into people who are younger and older.\u201d
In this edition of Medical Myths, we focus on diabetes. We discuss natural "cures," physical activity, driving, prediabetes, and more. <\/a>
Three experts and one long hauler join us in conversation to explain long COVID\u2019s cardiovascular impact and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome\u2026<\/a>
What do we know about the long-term neurocognitive impact of COVID-19, and what are we yet to learn? This Special Feature and podcast investigate<\/a>
Many people have misconceptions about type 2 diabetes. In this article, we discuss five of the common myths surrounding this condition and provide the\u2026<\/a>
As the coronavirus outbreak continues, a host of misconceptions and half-truths surround it. In this feature, we dispel 28 of these myths.<\/a>
OUR BRANDS<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following a SARS-CoV-2 infection, some people develop long COVID. These individuals may experience fatigue, brain fog, and general pain that can last for months. A group of researchers recently investigated whether COVID-19 might also increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. They published their findings in the journal Diabetologia. According to the Centers for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":869,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linksus2.linksus.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}