BENGALURU: A recent study by the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) may bring relief to thousands of people in Karnataka who have been diagnosed with diabetes post Covid-19 infection. The study found that onset of diabetes may be a temporary form of the disease related to the acute stress of the viral infection and may return to normal blood sugar levels after a few days or months.
“This suggests that newly diagnosed diabetes may be a transitory condition related to the acute stress of Covid-19 infection,” explained Sara Cromer, MD, an investigator with the Department of Medicine-Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at MGH, and also the main author of the study published in the ‘Journal of Diabetes and its Complications’.
The outcome of the study suggested that acute insulin resistance was the major mechanism underlying newly diagnosed diabetes in most patients with Covid-19 and that insulin deficiency, if at all it occurs, is generally not permanent. Interestingly, the MGH study showed individuals with new onset had higher inflammatory markers and required admission to hospital ICUs more frequently than Covid-19 patients with pre-existing diabetes.
Several doctors in Karnataka too have found such cases where the patients have needed only insulin or other medications for a shorter duration. The author also says, “These patients may need insulin or medication for a short time, and it’s therefore critical that physicians closely follow them to see if and when their conditions improve.”
The follow-up of cohort used for the study showed that those who had onset of diabetes with Covid-19 had normal blood sugar after a year of insulin or medicine treatment. Endocrinologists in Karnataka also argue that Covid-19 may push patients with pre-existing, but undiagnosed diabetes, to see a physician for the first time, where their blood sugar disorder can be clinically diagnosed.
“It is partially true that there is an onset of diabetes in some patients during Covid, except those who may have underlying diabetes that was incidentally detected during Covid illness,” Dr Mahesh D M, Consultant, Endocrinology, Aster CMI Hospital, said.
Doctors believe that steroids used in Covid-19 treatment also may also cause peaks in sugar levels in some patients leading to diabetes.
“The diabetes may be temporary in patients who are having mild increase in sugar or it maybe steroid-induced. We are still not sure about the temporary and permanent diabetes in such patients,” said Dr. Raghu J, HOD and Senior Consultant - Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease Specialist.