Patients with COVID-19 history contribute towards new diabetic cases, says Delhi hospital

Patients with COVID-19 history are contributing towards newly-diagnosed diabetes cases, experts at Apollo Hospital in Delhi said on Friday.

"In people with a confirmed history of moderate to severe Covid-19, various recurring and new health ailments have been reported which includes hypoxia, weakness, weight-loss, hair-loss, myocarditis, thyroid and diabetes (being reported as one of the most common diseases)," an official statement issued by Apollo hospital said.

Doctors at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital also have studied this development and noted the same through exhaustive internal OPD data from the past two years.

"Our data from OPDs of last two years have shown that in patients who had confirmed Covid-19 infection, nearly 25 per cent were new-onset diabetic patients, stress-induced hyperglycemia was seen in 10 per cent of patients who had Covid-19 infection," Apollo Hospital official statement said.

"In patients of established diabetes (already diabetic) more than 60 per cent of patients showed worsening of glycemic status, which persisted for more than three months," it added.

It further said that diabetes in itself is a pro-inflammatory state posing a risk of an inflammatory response along with Covid-19 which leads to an aggravation of blood sugar levels.

"Use of steroids in COVID-19 treatment further worsened the glucose levels in the patients. Stress response due to acute infection like covid increases the blood surpasses values through Hb1ac, which may be normal. This we term as new onset of diabetes due to covid," it further said.

"For an early and better diagnosis, patients who have been administered steroids owing to serious manifestations of covid-19 are advised to keep a regular check on blood sugar levels post their recovery from the virus," it reads.

It further recommends to live an active lifestyle with healthy eating patterns and take regular preventive health check-ups in view of increasing diabetic cases.

( With inputs from ANI )