Type 1 and Covid-19: Diagnosis, Clinical Care, and Health Outcomes during the Pandemic

KEY POINTS

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic permanently transformed clinical care models for people living with type 1 diabetes, primarily by accelerating the use of telemedicine.
Remote patient monitoring and virtual health care allowed people with diabetes to maintain contact with health care providers without traveling to the office.
Diabetes technology was associated with improved health outcomes in people with type 1 diabetes during the pandemic.
Pre-existing health care disparities, including differences in diabetes technology use and access to telemedicine, persisted during the COVID-19 pandemic and were associated with worse health outcomes.
Health care systems must work to create more flexible and equitable health care delivery models, to prepare for future pandemics and environmental disasters.
While there is no strong evidence directly linking severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection with type 1 diabetes pathogenesis, pandemic associated behaviors may have contributed to changes in the patterns of type 1 diabetes
diagnosis.