Mar 22, 2022 - Health

Increased diabetes risk linked to COVID

Tina Reed

Illustration of a glowing finger — Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Those who've recovered from COVID-19 within the past year have a significantly increased chance of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes compared with people who haven't been infected, a study published Monday in the journal Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology found.

Why it matters: The increased risk translates into 1% of people who've gotten COVID developing diabetes "who otherwise wouldn't have," the Wall Street Journal reported.

By the numbers: Researchers used the national databases of the Department of Veterans Affairs to build a cohort of 181,280 participants who had a positive COVID-19 test between March 2020 and September 2021.

They said the disease mechanism isn't clear, but they suspect it could be due to direct factors such as a hyperactivated immune response or broader environmental changes from the pandemic that might have indirectly helped shape outcomes.

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Increased diabetes risk linked to COVID

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