March 29, 2024

Mild illness appears to increase the risk of developing diabetes

Mild illness appears to increase the risk of developing diabetes

/ Robert Kinchek, Stockadobicom Inc.

Düsseldorf – Even mild illness with COVID-19 can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This is indicated by the evaluation of patients’ family physicians from Germany diabetes (2022; DOI: 10.1007/s00125-022-05670-0) there.

Previous studies have shown that beta cells in the pancreas can be damaged by infection with SARS-CoV-2, which in the worst case may lead to type 1 diabetes. In addition, the inflammatory response that occurs in COVID-19 appears to reduce Insulin sensitivity, which may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. A sedentary lifestyle enforced in lockdown can increase the risk.

In fact, there have been numerous reports in recent months of patients newly diagnosed with diabetes after COVID-19. Whether these are isolated cases or whether a wave of new cases is imminent under the pandemic is currently under epidemiological investigations.

Team led by Wolfgang Rathmann from German Diabetes Center In Düsseldorf evaluated the “Disease Analyzer” database, which includes a representative sample of general practitioner patients. As of January 2021, 35,865 patients have contracted COVID-19. Epidemiologists compared them with the same number of patients who were being treated for upper respiratory disease but did not have SARS-CoV-2.

The analysis showed that 189 patients with COVID-19 developed type 2 diabetes in the first 365 days. In the control group there were 175 diseases. The accidents were 15.8 versus 12.3 new cases per 1,000 people per year. Professor Rathmann established a relative incidence rate (IRR) of 1.28, which was significant with a 95% confidence interval from 1.05 to 1.57. This means there is a 28% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes after mild COVID-19 (treated by doctors).

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Patients and controls were similar in a number of factors that could influence the results. These factors included gender, age, health insurance coverage, index month, and comorbidities (obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, myocardial infarction, and stroke). However, there was a lack of accurate information about body mass index (BMI), which general practitioners in Germany do not regularly record in medical records. Therefore, the presence of other causes of diabetes cannot be excluded.

This topic is currently occupied by diabetes specialists in various countries. International Covidiab سجل record It collects disease cases from all over the world. It also addresses the question of whether COVID-19 can induce type 1 diabetes by destroying beta cells. There were only a few diseases in the “Disease Analyzer” database, so Professor Rathmann was unable to make any calculations. © rme / aerzteblatt.de