A new study finds higher rates of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes after infection with mild COVID-19

A new study in Diabetologia suggests a link between mild COVID-19 and type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Professors from the German Diabetes Center conducted the research.

Researchers examined electronic health records from 8.8 million adults who visited 1,171 general and internal medicine practices between March 2020 and January 2021 to back up their findings. COVID-19 was found in 35,865 people. An acute upper respiratory tract infection (AURI) (but not COVID-19) cohort (average age 43 years; 46% female) was matched for sex, age, health insurance coverage, index month of COVID-19 or AURI diagnoses, and diabetes comorbidities (obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack, stroke).

In patients with COVID-19 than AURI, new cases of T2D were more common. The COVID group had a 28% higher risk of type 2 diabetes than the AURI group. The researchers say that since the COVID-19 patients were only followed for about three months; further, follow-up is needed to understand whether type 2 diabetes after mild COVID-19 is temporary and can be reversed after they have fully recovered, or whether they have fully recovered it leads to a chronic condition.