Association of COVID-19 with Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Emerging evidence suggests that long COVID-19 may lead to a wide range of post-acute sequelae outcomes, including new onset of diabetes. The aim of this meta-analysis was to estimate the incidence of newly diagnosed diabetes in survivors of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Multiple electronic databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and the World Health Organization Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease) and clinical trial registries were searched to June 25, 2022, for studies reporting the association of COVID-19 and diabetes. Two investigators independently assessed studies for inclusion. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We estimated the effect of COVID-19 on incident diabetes by random-effects meta-analyses using the generic inverse variance method. We identified 5 eligible studies consisting of 1,130,773 COVID-19 patients and 16,630,187 controls. Median age was 43 years (interquartile range, 1QR: 20–55), and 34.8 % were female. COVID-19 was associated with a 74% higher risk of incident diabetes (risk ratio, 1.74; 95% CI: 1.37; 2.21). The average risk of bias assessment was 7.5. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, COVID-19 was associated with higher risk for developing new onset diabetes among survivors. Active monitoring of glucose dysregulation after recovery from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) infection is warranted.