Covid-19 increases risks
IT MIGHT be a matter of serious concern for diabetics who have also suffered from Covid-19. The infection may result in long-term health issues, which includes a higher risk for heart diseases.
Dr Dinender Singla, a researcher at the College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, US, recently published an article in the American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology.
He studied the mechanisms and side-effects of Covid-19 on patients with high-risk diabetes and the virus’s potential to advance the disease, leading to inflammation and heart failure.
He believed that the genetic make-up of patients with diabetes or those predisposed to it made them more prone to post-Covid-19 inflammatory conditions that impact the heart and brain.
“Our thinking is Covid-19 could have three major long-term effects on patients,” said Singla, the Advent Health chairperson of Cardiovascular Science at the College of Medicine.
“One is cognitive dysfunction, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Second, it can enhance diabetes in pre-diabetic patients or pre-diabetic conditions. Third, it can exacerbate complications of diabetes such as cardiomyopathy or muscle dysfunction.”
Singla theorises that some diabetic patients who were infected with Covid-19 might have developed a different cellular composition in their blood compared to diabetic patients who never had Covid.
“Our goal is to look into whether there is a difference in blood composition or variations in cytokines – proteins that affect communications between cells – compared to the non-Covid diabetic patients,“Singla said.
“If any differences are noted, then we would need to examine what kind of diseases they could potentially cause or enhance in those patients.”
Covid-19 has affected more than 600 million people worldwide. Singla said there were still many unanswered questions about Covid’s long-term impact on health.
“For example, if someone was genetically predisposed to developing heart disease or Alzheimer’s disease, if that person is affected by Covid-19, will that person develop heart disease or Alzheimer’s earlier than they were predisposed to? Also, how severe will their disease be and will it be different in people who contracted or did not have Covid-19?”
Singla said he was working on securing funding to explore the questions.
“We want to know – will diabetes be present in patients infected with Covid-19, 10 or 20 years from now? Will they develop a special type of cardiomyopathy or diabetic muscle pain and will those diseases be much more enhanced? Having this information will allow us to be one step ahead in developing therapeutics and treatments to manage any variations of diseases that may occur.” |