Cedars Sinai Results Also Suggest the Diabetes Risk Persists Across COVID-19 Variants, and That Upfront Vaccination May Help to Reduce Risk of Post-Infection Diabetes
Investigators in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai have confirmed that people who have had COVID-19 have an increased risk for new-onset diabetes—the most significant contributor to cardiovascular disease.
“Our results validate early findings revealing a risk of developing Type 2 diabetes after a COVID-19 infection and indicate that this risk has, unfortunately, persisted through the Omicron era,” said Alan Kwan, MD, first and corresponding author of the study and a cardiovascular physician in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai.
The trend, Kwan says, is concerning because most people in the United States will eventually experience a COVID-19 infection. “This research study helps us understand—and better prepare for—the post-COVID-19 era of cardiovascular risk,” Kwan said.
The findings, published today in the journal JAMA Network Open, also suggest that the risk of Type 2 diabetes appears lower in individuals who were already vaccinated against COVID-19 by the time they were infected.
To determine the rising rates of diabetes, investigators evaluated medical records from 23,709 adult patients who had at least one documented COVID-19 infection and were treated within the Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles from 2020-2022. The average patient was 47 years old, and 54% of subjects were female.
Within the study time frame:
- The combined risk of Type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 exposure—accounting for both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients—was 2.1%, with 70% occurring after COVID-19 infection versus 30% happening prior to COVID-19 exposure.
- The risk of Type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 exposure for unvaccinated patients was 2.7%, with 74% occurring after COVID-19 infection versus 26% happening prior to COVID-19 exposure.
- The risk of Type 2 diabetes after COVID-19 exposure for vaccinated patients was 1.0%, with 51% occurring after COVID-19 infection versus 49% happening prior to COVID-19 exposure.
“These results suggest that COVID-19 vaccination prior to infection may provide a protective effect against diabetes risk,” said Kwan. “Although further studies are needed to validate this hypothesis, we remain steadfast in our belief that COVID-19 vaccination remains an important tool in protecting against COVID-19 and the still-uncertain risks that people may experience during the post-infection period.”