Dhe question has been around for a long time: Does Covid-19 increase the risk of developing type 1 or type 2 diabetes in the weeks and months after a coronavirus infection? It has been well documented that disturbances in glucose metabolism can occur during the acute infection, but what about afterward? Is diabetes one of the symptoms of Long Covid along with shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, persistent loss of taste and smell, lack of concentration and other complaints?
Two large studies – one from Germany and one from the USA – have investigated this question. Both show that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases after Covid-19. Even with mild gradients. According to the American study, almost two out of every hundred Covid patients must expect to develop type 2 diabetes that requires treatment in the first twelve months after infection. The risk obviously increases with the severity of the disease and with various risk factors: age, weight, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia. Both studies are cohort studies that compare large groups and only show a possible connection, but do not prove it. The American study was published in the journal “Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology”, the German study in the journal “Diabetologia”. Yan Xie and Ziyad Al-Aly evaluated the data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs.