Bloomberg News reports that teens and children that have suffered from Covid-19 are prone to developing Type 1 diabetes. This was revealed in two studies that were conducted and that which gave rise to a debate about whether this coronavirus can cause chronic conditions.
The scientists associated with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health by using the national health registries examined new diagnoses of cases related to Type 1 diabetes over the last two years since the pandemic started. The findings reveal that those youngsters that were found to be Covid positive were 60% more at risk of developing Type 1 diabetes.
The risk within one month since the Covid infection was contracted and the PCR test came out positive was looked into by the researchers. Yet another study that was represented at the European Association for Study of Diabetes conference from Scotland in which the participants comprised the young adults were found to have an escalated risk of the same from contracting the viral illness within one month from the infection. However, thereafter, there was no further view that there was no association as such.
In both studies, the researchers emphasized that the findings do not necessarily mean that a cause-and-effect relationship exists between diabetes and coronavirus. But they also believe that it might be due to other conditions like delay in getting proper care at the time of the ongoing pandemic, changes in lifestyle, and various other conditions that were prevalent at that time.
Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, who is an associate professor at the department of primary care health at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield, stated that although there are many reasons why coronavirus might cause diabetes type 1, it has not been proven completely.
People with Type 1 diabetes a disease in which the production of the hormone insulin fails can become as high as 17.4 million by the year 2040 in comparison to 8.4 million in the last year, as per reports that were published in The Lancet medical journal at the beginning of this week.
It is not just SARS-Cov 2 or genetics that are the causative agents but family enteroviruses are believed to be the causative agent. It has no cure and is prevalent mostly in the younger generation. Type 2 is a more common disease form which is referred to as a lifestyle condition. It usually develops due to a sedentary lifestyle and disruption in sugar regulation in the body, which leads to weight gain.
