Can COVID-19 cause, uncover or otherwise activate diabetes?

As many as 14% of patients with severe COVID-19 develop type I or type II diabetes––and doctors are bewildered by the association. 

Health experts aren’t even sure if the diabetes symptoms will subside once a person has gotten over COVID-19, because some patients seem to return to normal while others go home with “full-blown diabetes” after being treated for COVID-19, according to one Bethesda, Maryland-based doctor who described the phenomenon to the Washington Post. 

The diabetes trend seen among some severe COVID-19 patients is one on a long list of bizarre symptoms associated with the virus, which attacks the lungs but is also known to cause vascular problems, neurological disorders, and kidney and heart damage. Patients can also develop diabetes or elevated blood sugar levels, even if they have no history of diabetes, the Post reported, and scientists aren’t sure if the virus accelerates diseases already under the surface or if it actually causes them.

However, the association between diabetes and viruses has been seen before, including influenza and SARS. Underlying health issues, such as obesity or family history of diabetes, may play a role in COVID-19 patients who develop diabetes, but elevated blood glucose levels from a steroid used in COVID-19 treatment could also potentially be the culprit. Still, diabetes cases develop among patients with no such health issues or history and can even develop months after the virus has cleared the system.

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of diabetes experts has created a registry of 150 patients with COVID-19-related diabetes to monitor outcomes.

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