Researchers identify link between COVID-19 and onset of diabetes

New research indicates COVID-19 could trigger the development of diabetes in healthy people, prompting experts to establish a registry for COVID-19 and diabetes data.

According to new research and emerging evidence, COVID-19 could trigger the onset of diabetes in healthy people and also cause severe complications for patients with pre-existing diabetes.

A published letter signed by an international group of 17 leading diabetes experts involved in the CoviDiab Registry project, a collaborative international research initiative, has announced the establishment of a global registry for new cases of diabetes in patients with COVID-19.

The registry aims to understand the extent and the characteristics of the manifestations of diabetes in patients with COVID-19 and the best strategies for the treatment and monitoring of affected patients, during and after the pandemic., Drug Target Review reports.

According to the researchers, clinical observations so far show a bi-directional relationship between COVID-19 and diabetes. On the one hand, diabetes is associated with increased risk of COVID-19 severity and mortality. Between 20 and 30 percent of patients who died with COVID-19 have been reported to have diabetes. On the other hand, new-onset diabetes and atypical metabolic complications of pre-existing diabetes, including life-threatening ones, have been observed in people with COVID-19.

The authors write that it is still unclear how SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, impacts diabetes. Previous research has shown that angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), the protein that binds to SARS-Cov-2 allowing the virus to enter human cells, is not only located in the lungs but also in organs and tissues involved in glucose metabolism such as the pancreas, the small intestine, the fat tissue, the liver and the kidney. Researchers hypothesise that by entering these tissues, the virus may cause multiple and complex dysfunctions of glucose metabolism. It has also been known for many years that virus infections can precipitate type 1 diabetes.