Scientists find COVID-19 infection may lead to increased risk of type 2 diabetes

Two separate studies have found that having had a COVID-19 infection may lead to increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and that those who had more severe cases of COVID-19 are far more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes afterward.

A study out of Germany that examined patients who had previously had COVID-19, and found they were 28 percent more likely to develop diabetes afterward. A United States study similarly reported an increased risk for diabetes post-COVID, finding patients who had the virus were 40 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes a year after infection.

The US study also found that people who had been treated in the ICU for their severe COVID-19 infections are 276 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes a year after having COVID.

The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, says the diabetes risk is not isolated to those who have been hospitalized for COVID-19. “This is not diabetes for a month or two after recovery. This is for a year out, and it’s happening certainly in people who are not hospitalized,” he said.

The CDC published a report in January that showed children who had contracted COVID-19 were 2 ½ times more likely than those who had not to develop diabetes a month after infection.