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

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 reported challenges consulting with diabetes providers. The pandemic contributed to therapeutic non-adherence (14%), drug rationing (17%) and reduced monitoring (16%). Many struggled to keep track, and in control, of hypoglycaemia (12%–15%) and lacked social support to help manage their risk (19%). Nearly half reported decreased physical activity. Few statistically significant differences were observed by diabetes type.Conclusions COVID-19 was found to cause substantial self-reported deficiencies in glycaemic management. Study results signal the need for decisive action to restabilise routine diabetes care in the USA.Trial registration number NCT04219514.