Having COVID-19 is linked to a higher risk of developing diabetes in the following months, a new analysis published in the journal BMC Medicine shows.
Diabetes and COVID-19 have been known to be highly related in several different ways almost from the start of the pandemic. COVID-19 was the leading cause of death for people with diabetes at the end of 2020, which reflects the higher risk for poor outcomes that people with diabetes who develop COVID-19 face. Research has also shown that COVID-19 puts people at higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes — to a greater degree than other respiratory infections raise this risk. Being vaccinated against COVID-19 may reduce the risk of developing diabetes after getting the viral infection. If you do develop diabetes after COVID-19, exercising may help reduce the impact of both diabetes and depression — a common symptom in people who develop “long COVID” in the aftermath of their initial infection.
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For the latest analysis, researchers looked at data from nine studies that compared the risk of developing diabetes — type 1 or type 2 — in people who did or didn’t have COVID-19. These studies included almost 40 million participants, and participants were tracked no later than June 10, 2022. The data from all nine studies was combined for the new analysis.
Risk of developing diabetes higher after COVID-19
The researchers found that the overall incidence of diabetes after having COVID-19 was 15.53 new cases for every 1,000 years of life — and that the risk of developing diabetes was 62% higher in people who had COVID-19. The risk of developing type 1 diabetes was 48% following COVID-19, while the risk for type 2 diabetes was 70% higher compared with people who didn’t have COVID-19. A higher diabetes risk following COVID-19 was seen in every major age category — the risk for diabetes was 72% higher for people under age 18, 63% higher for those ages 18 and over, and 68% for those over age 65. Compared with having a different respiratory infection, the risk for diabetes was 17% higher following COVID-19.
The researchers also found that people with severe COVID-19 were at highest risk for diabetes, with a 67% higher risk of developing diabetes. The risk of developing diabetes was highest during the initial three months after having COVID-19, with a 95% higher risk during this time period. All of these risk levels remained close to the same after the researchers adjusted for other factors known to affect the risk of developing diabetes.
“After COVID-19, patients of all ages and genders had an elevated […] risk for a new diagnosis of diabetes,” the researchers wrote. “Particular attention should be paid during the first three months of follow-up after COVID-19 for new-onset diabetes.”
Want to learn more about coronavirus and diabetes? Read our latest COVID-19 updates.
