I was looking through Google News this morning and ran across this story about a kid who was diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes months after recovering from COVID-19.
When their 11-year-old son started losing weight and drinking lots of water, Tabitha and Bryan Balcitis chalked it up to a growth spurt and advice from his health class. But unusual crankiness and lethargy raised their concern, and tests showed his blood sugar levels were off the charts.
Just six months after a mild case of Covid-19, the Crown Point, Indiana, boy was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. His parents were floored — it didn’t run in the family, but autoimmune illness did and doctors said that could be a factor.
Diabetes and Covid: Scientists explore potential connection (nbcnews.com)
I found it odd. Why would COVID cause Type-1 Diabetes? Then I clicked on the “View Full Coverage” link and found the news page with a bunch of these stories.
Google News – News about COVID, diabetes – Overview
We know people with Diabetes are more susceptible to severe COVID-19 but it is curious that there would be a link to the illness causing it.
High rates of newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus have been reported in COVID-19 hospital admissions around the world. It is still unclear, however, if this phenomenon represents truly new diabetes or previously undiagnosed cases.
It is also not known what the cause of these elevated blood sugars may be, and whether patients’ blood sugars improve after resolution of COVID-19 infection.
Preexisting diabetes in people with COVID-19 has been associated with higher rates of hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, and death.
“We believe that the inflammatory stress caused by COVID-19 may be a leading contributor to new-onset or newly diagnosed diabetes,” said lead author Sara Cromer, HMS instructor in medicine and an investigator with the Department of Medicine–Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Mass General.
“Instead of directly causing diabetes, COVID-19 may push patients with preexisting but undiagnosed diabetes to see a physician for the first time, where their blood sugar disorder can be clinically diagnosed. Our study showed these individuals had higher inflammatory markers and more frequently required admission to hospital ICUs than COVID-19 patients with preexisting diabetes,” Cromer said.
COVID and Diabetes | Harvard Medical School
Leave a Reply