Study links COVID-19 to faster onset of type 1 diabetes symptoms in children

An autoimmune disease called type 1 diabetes in children may manifest its symptoms sooner if they contract COVID-19, according to a study that was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Researchers discovered that youngsters who were both virus-infected and in the early stages of type 1 diabetes but did not exhibit any symptoms advanced faster toward the autoimmune disorder's clinical manifestation.

Type 1 diabetes can cause increased thirst and hunger, as well as weariness, blurred vision, and frequent urination. Insulin therapy is the usual course of treatment, involving daily injections.

Instead of defending the body against external infectious agents, the immune system of an autoimmune condition targets healthy cells and organs. Children infected with COVID-19 have been shown to have increased levels of islet autoantibodies in previous research. These autoantibodies from blood samples, which are produced when the pancreatic cells that produce insulin are destroyed, aid in the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes.


Researchers, including those from the Institute of Diabetes Research, Helmholtz Munich, Germany, discovered that after contracting COVID-19, children with islet autoantibodies—early stages of type 1 diabetes—developed diagnosable symptoms of the illness more quickly than children without the infection. They found that, in comparison to the pre-pandemic period, there was a greater increase in type 1 diabetes diagnoses among children who were still in the early stages of the disease during the pandemic.

[With PTI inputs]