New York. While diabetes is known to be a risk factor for serious COVID outcomes, researchers are now predicting hyperglycemia in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, with high blood sugar levels persisting for months afterward. Is. Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital assessed the health of 551 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Italy from March to May 2020.
The paper’s lead author and nephrology expert Paolo Fiorina said that new hyperglycemia was found in about half of the patients (46 percent) without a history of diabetes. A follow-up showed that the majority of cases were resolved, while about 35 percent of newly hyperglycemic patients persisted for at least six months after infection.
Treatment of hyperglycemic patients also requires higher oxygen requirements, ventilation, and intensive care, compared to patients with no symptoms of glucose abnormalities.
This paper was published in the journal Nature Metabolism. The team also found that hyperglycemic patients had abnormal hormonal levels.
“We found that they were severely hyperinsulinemic. Their bodies produced too much insulin,” Fiorina said.
They also had abnormal levels of pro-insulin, a precursor to insulin, and markers of impaired islet beta cell function. Islet beta cells make and secrete insulin.
“Basically, the hormonal profile suggests that endocrine pancreatic function is abnormal in those patients with COVID-19 and this persists long after recovery,” Fiorina said.
Hyperglycemic patients had severe abnormalities in the amount of inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6 and others. Whereas in some patients the glucometabolic abnormalities subsided over time, especially after COVID-19 infection. Glucose levels and abnormal pancreatic hormone leakage also persisted in the post-Covid period.
Fiorina said, “This study is the first to show that COVID-19 has a direct effect on the pancreas. This indicates that the pancreas is another target of the virus that affects not only the acute phase during hospitalization , but also potentially has long-term health implications for these patients.”
This research points to the importance of evaluating pancreatic function in patients hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. (IANS)
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