Under 25s With Diabetes Not Hospitalized Due to COVID-19
What your doctor is reading on Medscape.com:
MARCH 26, 2020 — Reports from pediatric endocrinologists in COVID-19 hotspots globally indicate that children, adolescents, and young adults with diabetes have so far not shown a different disease pattern with the virus compared to children and younger people who do not have diabetes.
Indeed, colleagues in Wuhan, China, and Italy “state they have not had cases of COVID-19 in children, adolescents, or young adults < 25 years of age with diabetes who required hospitalization, to date [as of March 24]” according to a new statement from the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD).
ISPAD currently has about 1300 members around the globe and has instituted a discussion forum about the topic of treating children with both diabetes and COVID-19.
“We find these reports [from colleagues around the world], though anecdotal, to be reassuring,” it notes.
However, there are real worries regarding other potentially dangerous effects. ISPAD has expressed concern, for example, that the COVID-19 pandemic will prevent youngsters with existing diabetes who are having diabetic emergencies from seeking hospital care.
Chinese physicians have reported to ISPAD a number of cases of delayed hospital admissions for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in children with known type 1 diabetes because hospital services were closed for non-COVID-19 care.
Andrea Scaramuzza, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at Ospedale Maggiore di Cremona, Italy, has similarly reported multiple cases of patients presenting to emergency services there with severe DKA.
“These experiences reinforce the importance of continued attentiveness to standard diabetes care to avoid the need for hospitalization and emergency or urgent care visits,” says ISPAD, under the strapline: “Keep calm and mind your diabetes care.”
But it nevertheless stresses that these resources should be used “if needed.”
Worries That New-Onset Diabetes Will Be Missed During COVID-19
Scaramuzza told Medscape Medical News there are also concerns regarding delays in diagnoses of new cases of type 1 diabetes “due to the fear families have to go to the emergency department because of COVID-19.”
Indeed, in Italy, a few patients have arrived with very serious DKA, he said. Scaramuzza noted a colleague from Naples, Dario Iafusco, MD, and his pediatric team have made a video to keep awareness high regarding new-onset diabetes.
