Background: Studies report increased risk of incident diabetes following COVID-19 illness. American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people have had more frequent and severe COVID-19 illness and historically higher diabetes incidence than other racial/ethnic groups in the US. We examined the association between COVID-19 illness and incident diabetes in AI/AN people.

Methods: Using de-identified data from the Indian Health Service, we created three cohorts spanning two periods: COVID-19 cohort and no-COVID-19 cohort (no indication of COVID-19 infection) both from 3/1/2020-12/31/2021 and pre-COVID-19 cohort from 1/1/2018-2/28/2020. We used data from the year prior to cohort entry to exclude prevalent cases of diagnosed diabetes (diagnosis codes, labs, or diabetes medications) and assess baseline characteristics. During the study period we ascertained COVID-19 infection (diagnosis codes, labs) and incident diabetes. We calculated age-adjusted diabetes incidence rates and rate ratios comparing the COVID-19 cohort to the no-COVID-19 and pre-COVID-19 cohorts.

Results: Across cohorts, age, sex, and healthcare utilization differed. Age-adjusted diabetes incidence rates and rate ratios were significantly higher in the COVID-19 cohort (Table 1).

Conclusions: Clinically confirmed COVID-19 infection was associated with increased incident diabetes rates in AI/AN people.

graphic
View largeDownload slide
Disclosure

J.Keck: None. S.Bressler: None. M.Bruce: None. U.Chukwuma: None. M.E.Lacy: None.

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R34DK132548-01S1)

© 2023 by the American Diabetes Association
2023
Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered. More information is available at http://www.diabetesjournals.org/content/license.