For some people, surviving COVID-19 may lead to lasting medical concerns, including newly diagnosed diabetes. This is a chronic disease that happens when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high.
The pancreas makes insulin, which is a hormone that helps glucose get into your cells to be used for energy. But when your body doesn’t make enough—or any—insulin (Type 1 diabetes), or doesn’t use insulin well (Type 2 diabetes), then glucose then stays in your blood and can cause health problems.
In November 2020, a global analysis 192.168.l.254 published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism found that up to 14.4% of people who were hospitalized with severe COVID-19 also developed diabetes. But why?
The real question is whether there’s an association to the viral infection, or if the coronavirus illness simply brought out the diabetes sooner than it would have otherwise been identified.