Could COVID-19 trigger diabetes?
by Tom Walker | 01 Apr 2021
A registry has been set up to collect data on people newly-diagnosed with diabetes and with confirmed COVID-19 / Shutterstock/Gecko Studio
There is growing evidence that a COVID-19 infection could trigger diabetes in some patients.
One of the studies to have made the link is a report relating to the outcomes of 47,780 COVID-19 patients within five months of hospital discharge in England. It found that 4.9 per cent of patients were diagnosed with diabetes post-discharge.
Clinical observations also show that diabetes is associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 severity and mortality, meaning pre-existing diabetes can determine COVID-19 outcomes, while the condition can also be a consequence of the disease.
A study led by researchers at the University of Exeter shows that people aged 40 living with Type 2 diabetes face a "disproportionately increased risk of dying from COVID-19" – equivalent to the risk faced by a non-diabetic 20 years older.
The link between the two diseases has now become such that scientists, academics and doctors around the world have set up a registry to record and analyse reports which suggest that COVID-19 induces diabetes.
Called CoviDiab, the registry is designed to establish the extent and characteristics of new-onset, COVID-19-related diabetes, and to investigate its pathogenesis, management and outcomes.
The goal of the registry is to collect data on people newly-diagnosed with diabetes and with confirmed COVID-19.
It will also collect data on people with existing diabetes who present with COVID-19 and severe metabolic dysregulation, with the aim of investigating the pathogenesis of the interaction between the two conditions.
Ultimately, researchers hope to understand whether COVID-19 causes a new form of diabetes or more simply a stress response that triggers classic type 1 or type 2 diabetes. (*To view the registry, click here).
In a statement, the researchers said: "Given the very short history of human contact with COVID-19, this registry will rapidly help us understand how COVID-19 related diabetes develops, its natural history and its best management.
"Studying COVID-19-related diabetes may also uncover novel mechanisms of disease."
Paul Zimmet, professor of Diabetes at Monash University in Melbourne and co-lead investigator in the CoviDiab project said: “We don’t yet know the magnitude of the new-onset diabetes in COVID-19 and if it will persist or resolve after the infection; and if so, whether or not or COVID-19 increases risk of future diabetes.
"By establishing this Global Registry, we are calling on the international medical community to rapidly share relevant clinical observations that can help answer these questions”.
diabetes COVID-1917 Feb 2021
People aged 40 with Type 2 diabetes face same risk of dying from COVID-19 as 60-year-olds
20 Oct 2020
Preventable lifestyle diseases are driving COVID-19 and we need a radical change of direction to deal with it, says The Lancet
FEATURE: Research – COVID hits diabetics harder
There is growing evidence that a COVID-19 infection could trigger diabetes in some patients. One of the studies to have made the link is a report relating to the outcomes of 47,780 COVID-19 patients within five months of hospital discharge in England. It found that 4.9 per cent of patients were diagnosed with diabetes post-discharge. Clinical observations also show that diabetes is associated with an increased risk of COVID-19
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