Children and teenagers infected with the coronavirus are significantly more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than their peers afflicted with other respiratory illnesses, according to research published Monday.
As the public heads into another viral season, health experts said the findings highlight how the virus continues to reveal new ways to pose detrimental long-term consequences.
Children were 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes at the six-month mark if they had endured a coronavirus infection compared with children who had another respiratory infection, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.
The subset of patients in the study who were obese were 100 percent more likely to have a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis compared with their peers beset with other respiratory infections.
Researchers used electronic health records from January 2020 to December 2022 of more than 600,000 children 10 to 19 years old and categorized them into two equal groups: those with a coronavirus infection and others with all other respiratory infections such as influenza and rhinovirus.
“This is a huge spike,” said Pauline Terebuh, the study’s lead author and epidemiologist at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland. “If a child is getting diagnosed with diabetes, they have a long life to carry that chronic disease.”
Terebuh said public health interventions, including vaccines, may decrease the risk of developing complications or a chronic illness from the coronavirus, but added that further research is needed.
During the time period that was analyzed, coronavirus vaccines were not always available for children. The Food and Drug Administration authorized vaccines for adults in December 2020, but it wasn’t until October 2021 that the agency approved them for children 5 to 11.
Since the rollout of the first vaccines, more than half of U.S. children have received at least one dose of the coronavirus shot, according to a 2023 study published in the Annals of Medicine.
In the nearly five years since the coronavirus began plaguing families worldwide, anti-vaccine campaigns have gained steam, and misinformation surrounding the coronavirus vaccine has swarmed the internet.
Steven M. Willi, director of the diabetes center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the skepticism surrounding the coronavirus vaccine, which protects against severe illness, has been “one of the tragedies of the anti-vaccination movement.”
Still, Willi, who was not involved with the study, underscores that the research doesn’t identify whether the children and teenagers received coronavirus vaccines. He adds that correlating the coronavirus with Type 2 diabetes is presumptive and warrants further investigation.
The onset of their diabetes “could be attributed to lack of immunity, but it may have had to do with lockdowns and restrictions on activities,” Willi said. “For some kids, the only exercise they get is when they go to school.”
“My mom died of covid,” Willi said. “There’s little doubt in my mind that she would be alive today if she had the vaccine.”
The coronavirus is not singular in its potential to trigger an autoimmune reaction; other viruses can elicit similar responses. There is debate among scientists about the extent to which Type 2 diabetes might be an autoimmune condition.
The Epstein-Barr virus, commonly known as mononucleosis (mono), has been linked to conditions such as multiple sclerosis and lupus. Zika, the mosquito-borne virus, has been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the nerves, leading to weakness and, in some cases, paralysis.
Anandita Pal, a Houston pediatrician, said the study is significant, but parents shouldn’t assume their child will develop diabetes after being infected with the coronavirus.
“Autoimmune conditions are based on each person’s genetics and their environment and all the other variables,” Pal said.
