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people are hacking their insulin pumps
known to some as “looping," it’s a system in which a continuous glucose monitor (cgm) can “talk” to a pump through a smartphone app
can covid-19 trigger diabetes?
an international team of doctors is hoping to get a clear answer with a registry of cases.
cases where otherwise healthy developed diabetes after getting covid-19 are being studied by an international team of doctors.
getty
more than 300 doctors from around the world are taking part in a global covid-19 case registry to figure out whether a virus infection can lead to diabetes.reuters reports the number of participants may climb as coronavirus cases continue to rise internationally.dr. francesco rubino, a diabetes researcher and chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at king’s college london, told the outlet, “covid could be causing diabetes from scratch.”in june, a letter published in the new england journal of medicine and signed by an international group of 17 leading diabetes experts announced the creation of covidiab project, the global registry of new cases of diabetes in patients with covid-19.according to diabetes canada, “covid-19 can cause more severe symptoms and complications in some people living with diabetes.” the group says that currently, one in three canadians has type 1 or type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.a study of 61 million medical records in the u.k. found that 30 per cent of covid-19 deaths in england occurred in people with diabetes.but newstudies have also shown a possible trend in previously healthy people developing diabetes after contracting coronavirus.the possibility of covid-19 triggering diabetes isn’t altogether out of left field considering similar cases during the 2002 sars outbreak. the conversation notes there were cases of acute onset diabetes in people with sars pneumonia: “in most cases, the diabetes resolved after three years, but it persisted in 10 per cent of patients.”the signatories hope to figure out how frequent the onset of diabetes is in people infected with covid-19, whether it is type 1 or type 2 diabetes or a new type of diabetes and whether the virus changes the underlying pathophysiology and natural history of diabetes in those who have it before getting the coroanvirus.by studying covid-19–related diabetes, the experts also hope to potentially “uncover novel mechanisms of disease.”for more information on diabetes, support or to connect with other patients, visit diabetes canada.don’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter covid life.
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