Moderator of 2 Sessions
Session Description:
While recent years have seen great improvements in glucose monitoring technology and an explosion of digital tools for diabetes, the extent to which these advances have truly supported behaviour change remains uncertain. Effecting behaviour change is a complex endeavour requiring focus beyond medical symptoms to the many day-to-day factors that influence wellness for people with diabetes.We are excited to bring together healthcare professional, academic, and industry experts to discuss their perspectives on how greater focus on wellness for people with diabetes can support them to achieve behaviour change. This session will explore principles for an effective digital ecosystem that can enable wellness without placing undue burden on people with diabetes and introduce LifeScan’s OneTouch Solutions platform with integrated wellness support and coaching from partner organizations Noom and Cecelia Health.
Presenter of 7 Presentations
Population screening platforms in childhood for prevention and early diagnosis
Q&A
New Insulins, Biosimilars and Insulin Therapy
Welcome and introduction from the Chair
The evolving role of digital apps in supporting wellness and health
Worldwide effects of COVID-19 pandemic on children with diabetes: results from the SWEET registry
Abstract
Abstract Body
Background: SWEET (Better control in Pediatric and Adolescent diabeteS: Working to crEate CEnTers of Reference), a large international multicentred pediatric diabetes registry for children with diabetes, was launched in 2008. Presently it contains data from 90,000 participants and 1 Million visits from 120 centers on all continents As the COVID-19 pandemic has been global, registries collecting data from around the world are particularly well suited for analyzing the impact and outcomes in children with established diabetes and on the cases of new-onset of type 1 diabetes (T1D).
Methods: Aggregated data per person with T1D ≤ 18 years of age were analysed in 2018 – first half of 2021. Hierarchic linear and logistic regression models were applied. Models were adjusted for gender, age- and diabetes duration-groups.
Results: Across all country quartiles of COVID-19 mortality in the background poulation, HbA1c and rate of severe hypoglycaemia remained comparable to the year prior to the first wave, while DKA rates increased significantly in the centres from countries with the highest mortality rate but returned to baseline after the first wave. CGM use decreased slightly during the first wave (53 vs. 51%) and increased significantly thereafter (55 vs. 63%, p<0.001).
The total number of new onset T1D cases in 88 centers worldwide increased from 3242 (2018), 3967 (2019) to 4302 in 2020. The average number of new-onset T1D per center increased from 11.5 [95%-confidence interval: 10.3-12.8] in 2018 to 16.8 [15.6-18.1] in 2020 in the youngest age group <6, from 13.6 [12.9-14.3] in 2018 to 21.5 [20.8-22.2] in 2020 in children 6 to <12 year and from 12.0 [11.4-12.6] to 19.3 [18.7-19.9] in adolescents 12 to 18 years (all p<0.001) These increases remained within the expected increase with the 95%-confidence interval of the regression line and tended to continue during the first half of 2021. However, in Europe and North America following the lockdown early in 2020, the typical seasonality of more cases during cold season was delayed with a peak during the summer and autumn months.
Conclusions: This real-world data analysis of the worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric T1D indicates that children cared for in large pediatric diabetes centres maintained glycemic control during the challenges of the first wave of the COVID pandemic. Possibly the widespread use of diabetes technology contributed to this. The major concern relates to the observed rise in DKA in those countries with the highest COVID-19 mortality. In contrast to other findings the slope of the rise in pediatric new-onset T1D in SWEET centers remained unchanged during the COVID pandemic in all age groups. However, the lockdown caused a change in the seasonality at onset possibly related to lockdown measures.
Trial Registration: NCT04427189