Even as the world recovers from the second wave of pandemics, post-Covid symptoms are cause for concern among recovered patients. Among the health conditions affecting patients recovered from Covid, diabetes has emerged as a prominent health problem.
In a worrying development, around a billion people who have survived the virus worldwide have now developed diabetes while their blood sugar levels were previously completely normal.
Doctors claim that the psychological and physical stress on the pancreas from the Covid-19 infection has affected insulin production in many patients’ bodies.
Insulin is critical to maintaining the level of sugar in a person’s blood and diabetes occurs when the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin or stops producing insulin altogether.
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The Journal of Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism published a report claiming that 14.46 percent of hospitalized Covid-19 patients have returned home with diabetes. Most of these patients were perfectly healthy before infection and exercised regularly.
Steroids and blood sugar levels
A senior physician at SN Medical College told India Today TV that Covid-19 had severely affected the lungs of patients in the moderate and severe category and that these patients were given extended doses of steroids. These steroids raised patients’ blood sugar levels.
Most patients have normalized sugar levels after stopping the steroids, but at least 14 percent of these patients have not been able to return to their previous healthy state and are now required to take diabetes pills on a daily basis.
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The senior endocrinologist Dr. Sanjeev Pathal told India Today TV that Covid-19 has affected the beta cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. These cells were not only disrupted in their function, but also damaged, which led to an increase in the sugar level in Covid-19 patients.
Dr. Pathal added that some of these must have been patients who were already borderline diabetic. In such patients, the beta cell damage was significant enough to drive them into the development of chronic diabetes.
Dr. Pathal said more research needs to be done to analyze whether the diabetes developed after Covid will be permanent or improve over time.
So far, doctors have been closely monitoring these patients and advising them to eat healthily and exercise while avoiding psychological stress.
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