Association between the reduction of face-to-face appointments and the control of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus during the Covid-19 pandemic in Catalonia.

Diabetes Res Clin Pract

Health Promotion in Rural Areas Research Group, Gerència Territorial de la Catalunya Central, Institut Català de la Salut, Spain; Unitat de Suport a la Recerca de la Catalunya Central, Fundació Institut Universitari per a la recerca a l'Atenció Primària de Salut Jordi Gol i Gurina, Spain; Faculty of Medicine. University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Spain.

Published: December 2021

Aim: To analyse the relation between face-to-face appointments and management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) visited in primary care practices (PCP).

Methods: Retrospective study in 287 primary care practices (PCPs) attending>300,000 patients with T2DM. We analysed the results of 9 diabetes-related indicators of the Healthcare quality standard, comprising foot and retinopathy screening, blood pressure (BP) and glycemic control; and the incidence of T2DM. We calculated each indicator's percentage of change in 2020 with respect to the results of 2019.

Results: Indicators' results were reduced in 2020 compared to 2019, highlighting the indicators of foot and retinopathy screening (-51.6% and -25.7%, respectively); the glycemic control indicator (-21.2%); the BP control indicator (-33.7%) and the incidence of T2DM (-25.6%). Conversely, the percentage of type 2 diabetes patients with HbA1c > 10% increased by 34%. PCPs with<11 weekly face-to-face appointments offered per professional had greater reductions than those PCPs with more than 40. For instance, a reduction of -60.7% vs -38.2% (p-value < 0.001) in the foot screening's indicator; -27.5% vs -12.5% (p-value < 0.001) in glycemic control and -40.2 vs -24.3% (p-value < 0.001) in BP control.

Conclusions: Reducing face-to-face visits offered may impact T2DM patients' follow-up and thus worsen their control.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8592525PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.diabres.2021.109127DOI Listing

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