Diabetes contracted by patients with severe COVID-19 infections is likely to be temporary and their blood sugar levels are likely to return to normal a year later, a new study shows.
Researchers studied 594 patients who showed signs of diabetes while hospitalized for COVID-19, including 78 with no previous diagnosis of diabetes. Compared to patients with pre-existing diabetes, many of the newly diagnosed patients had less severe blood sugar issues but more serious symptoms of COVID-19.
About a year after leaving the hospital, the sugar levels of 40% of the newly diagnosed patients had fallen below the cut-off point for diabetes, researchers reported in the Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications.
"This suggests to us that newly diagnosed diabetes may be a transitory condition related to the acute stress of COVID-19 infection," study co-author Dr. Sara Cromer of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said in a statement.
