Long-Haul COVID Symptoms in Persons with Diabetes

Most patients who suffer from coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) recover after mild acute infection in two weeks, and at 3–6 weeks when it has been severe; however, some have persistent symptoms beyond the acute phase. The persistence of symptomatology or the appearance of symptoms after COVID-19 recovery has been called long COVID, and patients who suffer from this disease are defined as “long haulers.” There is no universal definition for long COVID, although the most accepted has been proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The authors of this text chapter have proposed the following phases: post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) (from week 5 to week 12 after onset) and chronic post-COVID (more than 12 weeks after). Long COVID–associated symptoms are highly heterogeneous (more than a hundred symptoms, affecting multiple systems, have been described), although the most frequent symptoms are fatigue, dyspnea, and cognitive dysfunction. It is well known that individuals with pre-existing diabetes are at higher risk of complications during the acute phase of COVID-19, but few studies have investigated the presence of long COVID symptoms in subjects with pre-existing diabetes. Although there are conflicting results, based on available evidence, pre-existing diabetes in isolation would not represent a risk factor for more severe manifestations of long COVID.