Diabetes monitoring.Photo: GettyDoctors have long known thathaving diabetes puts patients at a higher riskof severe illness if they contract COVID-19. But now, several recent studies are pointing to COVID-19 causing people to develop new cases of diabetes.The results were consistent across two studies from the U.S. and abroad: Those who recovered from COVID-19 were at a significantly higher risk of beingdiagnosed with diabetes.In one large study using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, those who had COVID-19 were 40% more likely to later develop diabetes than those who did not. The study, published in the journalLancet Diabetes & Endocrinologylast week, looked at data from more than 181,000 COVID patients and compared them to 4.28 million patients who didn’t have the virus.Even in people who had few or no prior risk factors for diabetes, having COVID-19 gave them a 38% higher chance of developing the condition.The rise in diabetes cases among people who got sick with COVID-19 isone of the many ways that the virus can stick around long after the initial infection, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at VA Saint Louis Health Care System and lead author of the study,told ABC News.“COVID-19 isn’t only about the acute effects. This is going to leave a lot of people with long-term health consequences that they’ll have to deal with for a lifetime and that’s jarring,” he said. “It’s unsettling to accept.“Another large study, in Germany, looked at 8.8 million patients, 35,865 of which had mild cases of COVID-19. Compared to those who didn’t get sick with the virus, those that did were 28% more likely to go on to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.RELATED VIDEO: Sherri Shepherd Explains How Son Jeffrey Jr. ‘Woke Me Up’ About Her Diabetes: ‘I Don’t Want to Die’Al-Aly said he and his fellow researchers at VA Saint Louis Health Care System have a few theories about why some COVID-19 patients are developing diabetes. One is that the inflammation that the virus causes in the body is affecting insulin, and another is that COVID-19 alters the microbiome composition and function.Based on these studies, doctors and patients should look out for early diabetes symptoms like frequent urination and increased thirst.“Those are signs of diabetes, and we need you to get checked because catching this early and identifying diabetes early and treating it, or nipping it in the bud, is always better than leaving it unattended for years and suffering even worse or more serious health consequences,” Al-Aly said.As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
Diabetes monitoring.Photo: Getty
Doctors have long known thathaving diabetes puts patients at a higher riskof severe illness if they contract COVID-19. But now, several recent studies are pointing to COVID-19 causing people to develop new cases of diabetes.The results were consistent across two studies from the U.S. and abroad: Those who recovered from COVID-19 were at a significantly higher risk of beingdiagnosed with diabetes.In one large study using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, those who had COVID-19 were 40% more likely to later develop diabetes than those who did not. The study, published in the journalLancet Diabetes & Endocrinologylast week, looked at data from more than 181,000 COVID patients and compared them to 4.28 million patients who didn’t have the virus.Even in people who had few or no prior risk factors for diabetes, having COVID-19 gave them a 38% higher chance of developing the condition.The rise in diabetes cases among people who got sick with COVID-19 isone of the many ways that the virus can stick around long after the initial infection, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at VA Saint Louis Health Care System and lead author of the study,told ABC News.“COVID-19 isn’t only about the acute effects. This is going to leave a lot of people with long-term health consequences that they’ll have to deal with for a lifetime and that’s jarring,” he said. “It’s unsettling to accept.“Another large study, in Germany, looked at 8.8 million patients, 35,865 of which had mild cases of COVID-19. Compared to those who didn’t get sick with the virus, those that did were 28% more likely to go on to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.RELATED VIDEO: Sherri Shepherd Explains How Son Jeffrey Jr. ‘Woke Me Up’ About Her Diabetes: ‘I Don’t Want to Die’Al-Aly said he and his fellow researchers at VA Saint Louis Health Care System have a few theories about why some COVID-19 patients are developing diabetes. One is that the inflammation that the virus causes in the body is affecting insulin, and another is that COVID-19 alters the microbiome composition and function.Based on these studies, doctors and patients should look out for early diabetes symptoms like frequent urination and increased thirst.“Those are signs of diabetes, and we need you to get checked because catching this early and identifying diabetes early and treating it, or nipping it in the bud, is always better than leaving it unattended for years and suffering even worse or more serious health consequences,” Al-Aly said.As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
Doctors have long known thathaving diabetes puts patients at a higher riskof severe illness if they contract COVID-19. But now, several recent studies are pointing to COVID-19 causing people to develop new cases of diabetes.
The results were consistent across two studies from the U.S. and abroad: Those who recovered from COVID-19 were at a significantly higher risk of beingdiagnosed with diabetes.
In one large study using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, those who had COVID-19 were 40% more likely to later develop diabetes than those who did not. The study, published in the journalLancet Diabetes & Endocrinologylast week, looked at data from more than 181,000 COVID patients and compared them to 4.28 million patients who didn’t have the virus.
Even in people who had few or no prior risk factors for diabetes, having COVID-19 gave them a 38% higher chance of developing the condition.
The rise in diabetes cases among people who got sick with COVID-19 isone of the many ways that the virus can stick around long after the initial infection, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at VA Saint Louis Health Care System and lead author of the study,told ABC News.
“COVID-19 isn’t only about the acute effects. This is going to leave a lot of people with long-term health consequences that they’ll have to deal with for a lifetime and that’s jarring,” he said. “It’s unsettling to accept.”
Another large study, in Germany, looked at 8.8 million patients, 35,865 of which had mild cases of COVID-19. Compared to those who didn’t get sick with the virus, those that did were 28% more likely to go on to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
RELATED VIDEO: Sherri Shepherd Explains How Son Jeffrey Jr. ‘Woke Me Up’ About Her Diabetes: ‘I Don’t Want to Die’
Al-Aly said he and his fellow researchers at VA Saint Louis Health Care System have a few theories about why some COVID-19 patients are developing diabetes. One is that the inflammation that the virus causes in the body is affecting insulin, and another is that COVID-19 alters the microbiome composition and function.
Based on these studies, doctors and patients should look out for early diabetes symptoms like frequent urination and increased thirst.
“Those are signs of diabetes, and we need you to get checked because catching this early and identifying diabetes early and treating it, or nipping it in the bud, is always better than leaving it unattended for years and suffering even worse or more serious health consequences,” Al-Aly said.
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
