The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on glycaemic control and use of health services among children followed at a Danish diabetes clinic.

Aim During COVID-19 restrictions the paediatric clinic only accepted essential outpatient visits, schools closed, sports activities and social life were limited. Most employees worked at home. This quasi-experiment evaluates how this affected glycaemic control and use of health services among children with diabetes. Methods Paired t-tests were used to compare HbA1c-values before, during, and after lockdown. Sub-analyses were stratified by pre-lockdown HbA1c-values. Results Overall mean HbA1c decreased from 58.3 to 56.9 mmol/mol (p=0.025) from pre- to post-lockdown, a decrease also seen during the same season the previous year. HbA1c decreased by -4.2 mmol/mol (p=0.002) for patients with pre-lockdown HbA1c>59 mmol/mol, but increased slightly by 0.8 mmol/mol (p=0.176) for patients with HbA1c Conclusion Compared to 2019, overall the COVID-19 restrictions did not influence the glycaemic control negatively. However, patients with pre-lockdown HbA1c 59 mmol/mol experienced an improvement. Less stress and more contact with parents may contribute to the last-mentioned finding. The lockdown enforced more virtual contacts between patients and the clinic.