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COVID-19 may accelerate progression of presymptomatic type 1 diabetes in youth, a German study suggested.

Incidence of clinical type 1 diabetes nearly doubled after the pandemic started among 591 youth ages 1 to 16 known to have presymptomatic type 1 diabetes, Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, MD, of the Institute of Diabetes Research at Helmholtz Munich in Neuherberg, Germany, and colleagues wrote in a JAMA research letter.

"A key question was whether this increase was predominantly in those children who had been infected," Ziegler told MedPage Today. "The answer was yes."

"We know that the virus can infect the pancreatic islets so it could be causing damage or change in the beta cells that make insulin," said Ziegler when discussing possible mechanisms behind this association. "Second, there is generalized inflammation during the infection and there may be a stimulation of the immune response. Third, there could be metabolic stress from the infection that affects the beta cells that make insulin."

Head over to MedPage Today to read more about it.