Abstract
OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the diagnosis of pediatric type 1 diabetes or its acute complications changed during the early phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Italy.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This was a cross-sectional, Web-based survey of all Italian pediatric diabetes centers to collect diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and COVID-19 data in patients presenting with new-onset or established type 1 diabetes between 20 February and 14 April in 2019 and 2020.
RESULTS Fifty-three of 68 centers (77.9%) responded. There was a 23% reduction in new diabetes cases in 2020 compared with 2019. Among those newly diagnosed patient who presented in a state of DKA, the proportion with severe DKA was 44.3% in 2020 vs. 36.1% in 2019 (P = 0.03). There were no differences in acute complications. Eight patients with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 had laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
CONCLUSIONS The COVID-19 pandemic might have altered diabetes presentation and DKA severity. Preparing for any “second wave” requires strategies to educate and reassure parents about timely emergency department attendance for non–COVID-19 symptoms.
Footnotes
This article is part of a special article collection available at https://care.diabetesjournals.org/collection/diabetes-and-COVID19.
This article contains supplementary material online at https://doi.org/10.2337/figshare.12675089.
- Received June 1, 2020.
- Accepted July 10, 2020.
- © 2020 by the American Diabetes Association
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 https://www.diabetesjournals.org/content/license.
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September 2020
Volume 43, Issue 9
