COVID-19 Patients Had a 40% Higher Probability of Developing Diabetes After Recovery [Reading Science]

US Research Team Analyzes Veterans' Medical Records

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] As interest in the aftereffects of COVID-19 grows, a large-scale case study has revealed that the probability of developing diabetes after recovery increases by 40%, drawing attention. Although the statistics were mainly compiled from older, overweight white males, there is a concern that patients of similar age groups in Korea should also be cautious.

According to the international academic journal Nature on the 1st, a research team from the St. Louis Veterans Clinical Epidemiology Research Center under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently published these findings in the medical journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

The research team conducted the study by comparing medical records of over 180,000 people who survived more than a month after COVID-19 infection with those of 4 million people who were not infected, using data from the St. Louis Veterans Health Care System. Previously, the team had revealed through a similar study that people infected with COVID-19 had a higher probability of developing cardiovascular diseases compared to non-infected individuals. Specifically, those infected with COVID-19 had a 72% higher risk of heart failure 12 months after infection, and the likelihood of developing one of 20 cardiovascular diseases was 45 more cases per 1,000 people compared to the control group.

The research team found that people who had been infected with COVID-19 had a more than 40% higher probability of developing diabetes one year later compared to those who were not infected. This means there were more than 13 additional diabetes patients per 1,000 people. The type of diabetes was mostly type 2 diabetes, which primarily affects adults.

In particular, the risk was higher for those who experienced severe COVID-19 symptoms requiring hospitalization or admission to the intensive care unit. The probability of developing diabetes in the experimental group was three times higher than in the control group. Even those who had mild symptoms and no prior risk factors for diabetes showed increased risk factors for diabetes. One year after recovery, mild non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients had 8 more cases of diabetes per 1,000 people compared to non-infected individuals. Additionally, people with a high body mass index, a measure of obesity and a major factor for type 2 diabetes, had their probability of developing diabetes double after COVID-19 infection.

Regarding these findings, Jonathan Shaw, a researcher at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, said, "Considering that approximately 480 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19, the number of diabetes patients could increase proportionally beyond current levels."

However, there are opposing views. Professor Gideon Mierowitz-Katz of the University of Wollongong, Australia, stated, "It should be noted that this study was a statistical survey conducted mainly on U.S. veterans, who are older white males with hypertension and overweight. The risk of developing diabetes is much lower in younger people and tends to be higher in certain racial groups."

Meanwhile, in early 2020, there was a study suggesting that the COVID-19 virus could destroy insulin-producing pancreatic cells in young people or children, potentially causing type 1 diabetes (insulin deficiency). However, subsequent studies have produced unclear evidence, and no definitive conclusion has been reached yet.