Glycaemic Control In Children And Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes Following A Single Telehealth Visit - What Have We Learned From The COVID-19 Lockdown?
2Sackler School F Medicine, Tel Aviv University
3Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Unit, Dana-Dwek Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center
4National Juvenile Diabetes Center,, Maccabi Health Care Services
5Pediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Unit, Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center
6Pediatrics Department, Barzilai Medical Center
7Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Aims: Children with chronic diseases were unable to receive their usual care during COVID-19 lockdown. We assessed the feasibility and impact of telehealth visits on the time-in-range (TIR) of paediatric individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Methods: An observational multicenter real-life study. Patients scheduled for an in-clinic visit during the lockdown were offered to participate in a telehealth visit. Sociodemographic, clinical, continuous glucose monitor and pump data were recorded 2 weeks prior and 2 weeks after telehealth visit. The primary endpoint was change in relative-TIR, i.e change in TIR divided by the percent of possible change (∆TIR/(100-TIRbefore)*100).
Results: The study group comprised 195 individuals with T1D (47.7% males), mean±SD age 14.6±5.3 years, diabetes duration 6.0±4.6 years. Telehealth was accomplished with 121 patients and their parents (62.0%); 74 (38.0%) did not transfer complete data. Mean TIR was significantly higher for the two-week period after the telehealth visit than for the two-week period prior the visit (62.9±16.0, p Conclusions: Paediatric patients with T1D benefited from a telehealth visit during COVID-19. However, this modality is not yet suitable for a considerable proportion of patients.