Baton Rouge doctors concerned with Type 2 diabetes in children who had COVID

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - In our Healthline news, scientists are trying to learn more about children who have recovered from COVID-19.

The latest report from the CDC said children appear to be at significantly increased risk of developing type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

“We are seeing some indicators of an increased type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Jay Gardner, Pediatric Endocrinologist at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health. “We haven’t really looked enough to see about type one diabetes.”

Gardner said he’s involved in a separate retrospective study from the CDC.

He said they are finding an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in children who have had COVID than those who didn’t.

“My colleagues and I, we’re very concerned about type 2 diabetes in this COVID pandemic and a lot due to changes in kids lifestyle when they were in lockdown and could stay home they were specifically inactive, so we have concerns about that,” said Gardner. “I think it remains to be seen about type 1 diabetes.”

The study includes all children under 18 years or younger. Gardner said parents should think about getting their child screened for diabetes if they have increased urination or thirst, fatigue, weight loss and sometimes headaches and blurry vision.

“An additional indicator that we really need to be vaccinated, at least in our pediatric population. We’re recommending that all of our children five and up to get vaccinated using the Pfizer vaccine,” said Gardner.

He said there are still many unknowns, and there is still a lot of research to be done.

Gardner hopes this will encourage more people to be aware of the seriousness of COVID and diabetes.

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