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Summary Emerging evidence suggests that coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) may lead to a wide range of post-acute sequelae outcomes, including new-onset diabetes. The aim of this meta-analysis was to estimate the incidence of diabetes newly diagnosed in survivors of COVID-19. We searched MEDLINE, Scopus, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the World Health Organization’s Global Literature on coronavirus disease and clinical trial registries for studies reporting the association of COVID-19. 19 and diabetes. Search dates were December 2019 to October 16, 2022. Two investigators independently assessed studies for inclusion. The risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. We estimated the effect of COVID-19 on incident diabetes by random-effects meta-analysis using the generic inverse variance method. We identified 8 eligible studies consisting of 4,270,747 COVID-19 patients and 43,203,759 controls. The median age was 43 years (interquartile range, IQR 35-49) and 50% were women. COVID-19 was associated with a 66% increased risk of incident diabetes (hazard ratio, 1.66; 95% CI: 1.38, 2.00). The risk was not modified by age, sex, or study quality. The median risk of bias assessment was 7. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, COVID-19 was associated with an increased risk of developing new-onset diabetes among survivors. Active control of glucose dysregulation after recovery from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is warranted. |
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Survivors of COVID-19 have a 66% increased risk of developing type 1 or type 2 diabetes after their diagnosis compared to those who have not been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a study by researchers at the College of Medicine of Penn State. Their findings are among the latest evidence to suggest that people diagnosed with COVID-19 may experience a range of health problems in the aftermath of illness.
While previous research has indicated that COVID-19 may lead to a higher incidence of diabetes in survivors compared to the general population, the causes are not well understood. According to the researchers, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, binds to an enzyme receptor found on the surface of many organs and tissues, including cells found in the pancreas, intestine thin and kidneys. Other research teams have discovered that the virus affects insulin levels and induces the death of pancreatic beta cells, which produce insulin.
“We cannot definitively conclude that COVID-19 causes diabetes, and more research is needed into whether there is a biological cause to explain this association,” said Paddy Ssentongo, internal medicine resident physician at Penn State Health. “But we know that other viruses such as the mumps virus, rotavirus and cytomegalovirus are associated with the development of diabetes, so it is not implausible that SARS-CoV-2, which has been shown to affect multiple systems in the human body, can also do the same.”
Ssentongo and Djibril Ba, assistant professor of public health sciences, have completed one of the largest meta-analyses, or comprehensive reviews of existing studies, of the association between COVID-19 and diabetes. They extracted data from eight eligible studies out of more than 850 that took place from December 2019 to mid-October 2022. Their final analysis included data from more than 4 million COVID-19 patients and 43 million non-COVID-19 control patients. diagnosed with the disease. .
