Has COVID-19 Delayed the Diagnosis and Worsened the Presentation of Type 1 Diabetes in Children?

Ivana Rabbone; Riccardo Schiaffini; Valentino Cherubini; Claudio Maffeis; Andrea Scaramuzza

doi:10.2337/dc20-1321

Novel Communications in Diabetes

Has COVID-19 Delayed the Diagnosis and Worsened the Presentation of Type 1 Diabetes in Children?

Ivana Rabbone¹,
Riccardo Schiaffini²,
Valentino Cherubini³,
Claudio Maffeis⁴ and
Andrea Scaramuzza⁵ ⇑, the Diabetes Study Group of the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes*

¹Division of Pediatrics, Department of Health Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy
²Diabetes Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Rome, Italy
³Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, G. Salesi Hospital, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona, Italy
⁴Pediatric Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Unit, Regional Center for Pediatric Diabetes, University City Hospital of Verona, Verona, Italy
⁵Division of Pediatrics, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Cremona, Ospedale Maggiore di Cremona, Cremona, Italy

Corresponding author: Andrea Scaramuzza, andrea.scaramuzza{at}asst-cremona.it

↵* A complete list of the members of the Diabetes Study Group of the Italian Society for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes can be found in the supplementary material online.

Diabetes Care 2020 Nov; 43(11): 2870-2872. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc20-1321

Article Figures & Tables

Tables

Table 1

Diabetes onset, DKA at onset, and acute complications in the pediatric population (0–15 years) observed during COVID-19 pandemic (20 February–14 April 2020) compared with the same period in 2019

	2020		2019		Δ	P
	n	%	n	%	Δ	P
Patients with diabetes onset	160	—	208	—	−48	–
Patients with DKA (pH <7.3)	61	38.1	86	41.3	−3.2	0.08
Patients with severe DKA (pH <7.1)	27	16.9	31	14.9	2.0%	0.09
Proportion of DKA patients with severe DKA	27	44.3	31	36.0	8.3%	0.03
DKA episodes in patients with established diabetes	13	—	22	—	−9	—
Severe hypoglycemia episodes in patients with established diabetes	10	—	13	—	−3	—

Severe hypoglycemia was defined as an episode with loss of consciousness or requiring hospitalization. The value in boldface type represents significant difference between groups.