COVID‐19 outbreak and pediatric diabetes: perceptions of health care professionals worldwide

Elbarbary, Nancy Samir; dos Santos, Tiago Jeronimo; de Beaufort, Carine; Agwu, Juliana Chizo; Calliari, Luis Eduardo; Scaramuzza, Andrea Enzo

BACKGROUND: COVID‐19 is an infectious disease that started in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and later spread around the world. Diabetes has been recognized as a possible risk factor for COVID‐19 complications. OBJECTIVE: ISPAD investigated perceptions, challenges and experience of healthcare professionals (HCP) taking care of children and young people with diabetes world‐wide during COVID‐19 pandemic. METHODS: From 21(st) April to 17(th) May 2020, during COVID‐19 pandemic, a web‐based survey was sent to ISPAD members and former participants of ISPAD conferences by email. RESULTS: Responders from 215 diabetes centres from 75 countries completed the survey. Majority were from UK (35; 16.3%), USA (20; 9.3%) and India (15; 7%). HCP were mostly pediatric endocrinologists (64%). During COVID‐19 pandemic, 16.5% of responders continued face‐to‐face consultation while most changed to telephone (32%) or video (18%) consultations. 19% reported a shortage of medical supplies. 22% reported a delay in diagnosis of patients with new‐onset diabetes, while 15% reported a higher incidence of DKA. 12% reported having one or more patients with COVID‐19. Most of the 86 children and adolescents with diabetes and COVID‐19 had only mild/moderate symptoms, while 5 required admission to an intensive care unit. No deaths were reported. CONCLUSIONS: This large global survey during COVID‐19 pandemic showed that many HCP adapted to the pandemic by resorting to telemedicine. One fourth of HCP reported delays in diagnosis and an increased rate of DKA. The emergence of COVID‐19 pandemic had an important impact on family's behaviour that might have led to increase in DKA presentation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.