Introduction

Incidence of new-onset type 1 diabetes (T1D) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic,¹ and this increase has been associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.² The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that pediatric patients with COVID-19 were more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes after infection, although types 1 and 2 were not separated.³ Therefore, whether COVID-19 was associated with new-onset T1D among youths remains unclear. This cohort study assessed whether there was an increase in new diagnoses of T1D among pediatric patients after COVID-19.

In this study, new T1D diagnoses were more likely to occur among pediatric patients with prior COVID-19 than among those with other respiratory infections (or with other encounters with health systems). Respiratory infections have previously been associated with onset of T1D,⁶ but this risk was even higher among those with COVID-19 in our study, raising concern for long-term, post–COVID-19 autoimmune complications among youths.