COVID-19 Vaccination and Its Relation to New-Onset Diabetes: A Narrative Review

Abstract

The COVID-19 vaccination has been effective in preventing a lot of complications caused by SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. Meanwhile, diabetes mellitus, one of the root causes of many co-morbidities, exhibited itself during the COVID-19 pandemic and after COVID-19 vaccination. Diabetes mellitus introduced itself in a new perspective, leading to a variety of presentations and causing a significant number of emergency admissions. Many of the pre-diabetes patients with no prior history of diabetes developed fulminant type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) after the COVID-19 vaccination. Some cases of conversion of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) into T1DM were reported. Some prediabetes/diabetes patients presented with the development of diabetic ketoacidosis after COVID-19 vaccination, whereas some previously healthy people with no relation to diabetes also developed acute exacerbations of new-onset T1DM or T2DM along with lethal ketoacidosis. The purpose of writing this review was to explore what kind of people are more prone to develop new-onset diabetes or diabetic complications, including diabetic ketoacidosis, the typical presentation of these patients, possible mechanisms that lead to these complications occurring after the COVID-19 vaccination, how they can be managed, and whether there is a good prognosis after management or not.