A new study from Canada has found that people infected with the coronavirus are more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within a year of their infection than those who have not been exposed to the virus. Men were more likely to develop diabetes than women, and people who were so sick that they were hospitalized were more than twice as likely to receive a diagnosis compared with those who were not infected. People who were admitted to intensive care were more than three times as likely to develop diabetes, according to the study.
The study used a large dataset from British Columbia to compare diabetes diagnoses among more than 125,000 individuals who had tested positive for Covid in 2020 and 2021 with those of over 500,000 unexposed individuals during the same period. The findings do not prove that the infection causes diabetes, however. Experts said it was possible that patients recovering from Covid were more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes simply because they were receiving more regular care.
Still, there are plausible biological explanations for a link between the two conditions, according to Dr. Pamela Davis, a professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, who co-wrote a commentary accompanying the study. Stress also plays a role in the development of diabetes, and the inflammatory response that accompanies Covid has been linked to the destruction of beta cells.
Other viral infections have also been associated with the development of diabetes, according to the study’s senior author, Dr. Naveed Z. Janjua, whose research before the pandemic focused on hepatitis. The new study found that adults who had tested positive for the virus were 17 percent more likely to develop diabetes within a year of the positive test. Men were 22 percent more likely to develop diabetes compared with unexposed individuals. The elevated risk for women was not statistically significant overall unless they were hospitalized or admitted to an intensive care unit.