The Value of Telemedicine for the Follow-up of Patients with New Onset Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus During COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey: A Report of Eight Cases.

Evin, Ferda; Er, Eren; Ata, Aysun; Jalilova, Arzu; Demir, Günay; Atik Altınok, Yasemin; Özen, Samim; Darcan, Şükran; Gökşen, Damla

BACKGROUND The current COVID-19 pandemic has forced health care teams to look for alternative approaches to manage a great number of children with diabetes not only in rural but also in urban locations. Our aim in this COVID-19 pandemic was to provide information about the follow-up of new onset type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients and to discuss the integration of telemedicine into routine clinical care in the long term. METHODS The changes in Coefficient of variation (CV), standard deviation (SD); percentage of time in range (TIR), time below range (TBR) and time above range (TAR) were evaluated in 8 patients with new-onset T1D diagnosed in Pediatric Diabetes division of Ege University, during COVID-19 pandemic over a period of two-months follow-up using telemedicine system. RESULTS Median follow-up time was 51 (24-66) days. Two of the patients were using low glucose suspend system and 6 were on multiple dose daily injection therapy (MDI). Target TIR values were achieved in 7 patients in the last televisit and according to last consensus suggestions' TBR <70 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/l) (level 1 hypoglycemia) of <4% and a TBR <54 mg/dl (3.0 mmol/l) (level 2 hypoglycemia) of <1% were achieved in all patients. Seven patients achieved a CV of < 36 % in their last televisit. CONCLUSIONS Telemedicine as an alternative follow-up tool during unusual circumstances such pandemics, even in countries where it is not routinely used, could be beneficial to achieve optimum glycemic control in patients with new-onset T1D.