The exact reason is unknown, but new data suggest that COVID-19 may cause diabetes in some people.
Scientists around the world have noticed an increase in new things Diabetes mellitus It was found that last year’s cases, especially some COVID-19 patients with no history of diabetes, suddenly developed symptoms. Reported by Scientific American.. Due to this trend, many research groups have begun to study this phenomenon. For example, researchers at King’s College London in the United Kingdom and Monash University in Australia CoviDiab registry, A resource that allows physicians to submit reports on patients with a confirmed history of COVID-19 and newly diagnosed diabetes.
Over 350 clinicians have submitted reports to the registry. Guardian reported.. They report both type 1 diabetes, where the body attacks cells. pancreas In type 2 diabetes, which produces insulin, the body produces insulin, but often not enough, and the cells do not respond properly to hormones.
Relation: 20 of the worst trends and pandemics ever
“In the last few months, more and more patients have developed diabetes during or shortly after experiencing COVID-19,” said Dr. Frances Corbino, a professor at King’s College London and chair of metabolic and weight loss surgery. It states. , Told the Guardian. “We are now beginning to think that the link is probably true — it has the ability to cause viral dysfunction. Sugar metabolism.. “
Other studies have shown a link between COVID-19 and diabetes.
For example Review of 8 studiesIncluded more than 3,700 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and Scientific American reported that approximately 14% of these patients developed diabetes. A preliminary study of 47,000 patients in the United Kingdom found that 4.9% had diabetes, The Guardian reported.
“We’re clearly seeing people who haven’t had diabetes before,” said Dr. Remi Lavasa Loretto, a physician and metabolic disease researcher at the Montreal Institute for Clinical Research. .. Told to CTV News.. “COVID-19 is likely to cause this disease.”
The big problem is the reason, and scientists have several theories.
It’s SARS-CoV-2, Virus Scientific American reported that this causes COVID-19 and directly attacks insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Alternatively, the virus can indirectly damage these cells by infecting other parts of the pancreas and blood vessels that supply the organs with oxygen and nutrients. Yet another theory suggests that the virus infects other organs involved in blood sugar regulation, such as the intestine, and more generally impairs the body’s ability to break down glucose in some way.
Other types of viruses — certain viruses, etc. EnterovirusThe Guardian reported that causing a variety of conditions, including hand-foot-and-mouth disease, has been associated with diabetes in the past.In addition, a subset of the patients who caught Coronavirus SARS-CoV, which caused the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in the early 2000s, subsequently developed diabetes, Dr. Mikhail Gilbermint, an endocrinologist and associate professor at Johns Hopkins Medical College, told CTV News.
In general, acute viral infections can cause severe inflammation in the body, and the body responds by producing stress-related hormones such as cortisol to reduce the inflammation. Stress hormones can cause blood sugar spikes, which do not always subside after the infection has resolved, Scientific American reported.
In addition, COVID-19 patients are often treated with steroids such as dexamethasone, which can raise blood sugar levels. Therefore, these steroids may also contribute to the development of diabetes in COVID-19 patients, Zilbermint told CTV News.Steroid-induced diabetes may subside after the patient stops taking the drug, but sometimes the condition becomes chronic, he said. Diabetes.co.uk..
However, another factor that contributes to the uncertainty about the association is that patients already suffering from prediabetes, which means they already have above-average blood glucose levels when they catch COVID-19. Is the number of. “It is possible [a] The patient had diabetes many years ago and was unaware of it, “Silvermint told CTV News.
Scientists aren’t sure if people who develop diabetes after getting COVID-19 will be in that state permanently, Rabasa-Lhoret told CTV News. According to a 2010 report in the journal, in at least some patients who developed diabetes after SARS infection, the symptoms of diabetes eventually subsided and blood glucose levels returned to normal levels after infection. Acta Diabetologica.. Patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 may experience similar short-lived diabetic symptoms, which should be confirmed in further studies.
Originally published in Live Science.
