Now scientists claim you’re more likely to develop type 2 DIABETES if you’re unvaccinated against Covid
- Researchers in California studied nearly 24,000 Covid patients up until 2022
- They found unvaccinated people were at higher risk of diabetes
- READ MORE: Covid has caused a ‘diabetes timebomb’, experts say
People who are not vaccinated against Covid are at a higher risk of diabetes, a study suggests.
Researchers claim it could be because un-jabbed people have a more severe reaction to the virus, which triggers inflammation and may interfere with blood-sugar regulation.
Experts at the Cedars-Sinai health system in Los Angeles, California, looked at nearly 24,000 patients hospitalized with Covid between March 2020 and June 2022 by vaccination status.
They found that those who were not inoculated were ten times more likely to develop diabetes after the infection compared to those who got the shots. Previous studies have also warned that a Covid infection may leave cells less able to absorb sugar from the blood stream.
Researchers found people who were not vaccinated against Covid were more likely to develop diabetes
Dr Alan Kwan, a heart disease expert who led the study, said: ‘These results suggest that Covid vaccination prior to infection may provide a protective effect against diabetes risk.
‘Although further studies are needed to validate this hypothesis, we remain steadfast in our belief that Covid vaccination remains an important tool in protecting against Covid and the still-uncertain risks that people may experience during the post-infection period.’
In the study, published today in JAMA Network Open, researchers looked at Covid patients sent to the Cedars-Sinai health system between March 2020 and June 2022.
A total of 23,709 patients were included who were 47 years old on average. Some 54 percent were female.
They were split by vaccination status for the analysis.
Results showed that people who were not vaccinated before they caught Covid had a 78 percent higher risk of developing diabetes.
But those who had got the shot had only a seven percent higher risk.
There was no data for people who had previously caught Covid before being hospitalized by a second infection.
The analysis adjusted for factors including age, sex and heart disease risk.
Scientists suggested Covid may raise the risk of diabetes because of the inflammation the infection triggers in the body.
This can make cells more resistant to absorbing sugar, leaving the body struggling to control its blood sugar levels — triggering diabetes.
Experts suggest diabetes after infection is a bigger concern for overweight and obese people who are already pre-diabetic, with the infection possibly tipping them over the edge.
Dr Mike Mosley: Covid can leave you with type 2 diabetes
But though recent research suggests rates are high in the over-55s (and lots of my friends, who escaped previous waves, are coming down with it), there are also encouraging signs, at least here in the UK, that the worst is over and this coronavirus is entering the phase where it’s something we can learn to live with.
In vaccinated people catching the virus, the body mounts a quick immune response — ensuring low levels of inflammation.
But this may not happen in people who do not have immunity against the virus, especially if they already have a weakened immune system.
Dr Erika Glazer, a woman’s heart health expert, said: ‘Although we don’t yet know for certain, the trends and patterns that we see in the data suggest that Covid infection could be acting in certain settings like a disease accelerator, amplifying risk for a diagnosis that individuals might have otherwise received later in life.
‘So, it could be that instead of being diagnosed with diabetes by age 65, a person with preexisting risk for diabetes might—after a Covid infection—be more likely to develop diabetes by age 45 or 55.’
The United States was among the first countries to start rolling out Covid vaccines in 2020 such as the Pfizer jab, but it also faced low jab uptake.
Statistics show that 69 percent of Americans are double-vaccinated against Covid — or 229million people — so far.
The Government also launched a booster rollout this winter, but uptake was anemic with just 15 percent of US adults — or 52million — coming forward for the shot.
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