Add diabetes to COVID's greatest hits: catching it might come with a side of insulin shots.
Dr. Michael Hoerger, a faculty member at Tulane University School of Medicine who tracks COVID-19 data and research, shared a study published in JAMA today titled "Progression From Presymptomatic to Clinical Type 1 Diabetes After COVID-19 Infection." Hoerger provided this quick overview:
JAMA Today: COVID-19 doubles the risk of children developing Type 1 diabetes.
The Research Letter published in JAMA was written by a team of researchers from the Institute of Diabetes Research, Helmholtz Munich, Germany, and the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Helmholtz Munich explains that researchers analyzed data from the Bavarian Fr1da study, which has been screening children for the presence of islet autoantibodies. Having two or more of these antibodies indicates the early stages of type 1 diabetes, even before clinical symptoms appear. Analysis of data from the Bavarian Fr1da study showed that, among children with early-stage type 1 diabetes who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection, there was an accelerated progression from the presymptomatic early stage to the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes. Helmholtz Munich further explains:
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 until 2023, children participating in the Fr1da study were tested for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in addition to islet autoantibodies . . . The researchers previously demonstrated in another study a temporal relationship between a SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of islet autoimmunity. The incidence of islet autoantibodies was elevated in young children after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the present study, the scientists now further reveal that a SARS-CoV-2 infection can accelerate the progression to clinical type 1 diabetes in children with pre-existing islet autoimmunity.
Data from the follow-up program of children in the German Fr1da study was evaluated. The program monitored children with early-stage type 1 diabetes until they were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The researchers showed an increase in the incidence rate of type 1 diabetes among children with presymptomatic type 1 diabetes once the pandemic started as compared to the pre-pandemic period. The children who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 progressed faster to clinical type 1 diabetes than those who did not experience an infection.
Read the complete overview from Helmholtz Munich here. Here's the link to the JAMA piece, but you'll need access through an academic institution to view it.
