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COVID-19 hinterland: surveilling the self-reported impacts of the pandemic on diabetes management in the USA (cross-sectional results of the iNPHORM study)

A. Ratzki-Leewing, Bridget L. Ryan, J. Buchenberger, J. Dickens, Jason E. Black, S. Harris

BMJ Open, 2021

18 citations

Abstract

Main objective To determine how and to what extent COVID-19 has affected real-world, self-reported glycaemic management in Americans with type 1 or type 2 diabetes taking insulin and/or secretagogues, with or without infection. Design A cross-sectional substudy using data from the Investigating Novel Predictions of Hypoglycemia Occurrence using Real-world Models panel survey. Setting USA. Participants Americans 18–90 years old with type 1 or 2 diabetes taking insulin and/or secretagogues were conveniently sampled from a probability-based internet panel. Primary outcome measure A structured, COVID-19-specific questionnaire was administered to assess the impact of the pandemic (irrespective of infection) on socioeconomic, behavioural/clinical and psychosocial aspects of glycaemic management. Results Data from 667 respondents (type 1 diabetes: 18%; type 2 diabetes: 82%) were analysed. Almost 25% reported A1c values ≥8.1%. Rates of severe and non-severe hypoglycaemia were 0.68 (95% CI 0.5 to 0.96) and 2.75 (95% CI 2.4 to 3.1) events per person-month, respectively. Ten respondents reported a confirmed or probable COVID-19 diagnosis. Because of the pandemic, 24% of respondents experienced difficulties affording housing; 28% struggled to maintain sufficient food to avoid hypoglycaemia; and 19% and 17% reported challenges accessing diabetes therapies and testing strips, respectively. Over one-quarter reported issues retrieving antihyperglycaemics from the pharmacy and over one-third…

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