The silent diabetic decompensation epidemic during the SARS-CoV2 pandemic – The role of primary care in early diagnosis and prevention of severe diabetic decompensation

AIM/HYPOTHESIS: Efficiency in controlling chronic diseases, especially in the primary care setting, is associated with reduced rates of hospitalizations. Poorly controlled diabetes is associated with severe diabetic decompensation, such as diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state (HHS). It is hypothesized that, in addition to the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, there was a parallel increase in decompensation of previously controlled chronic diseases, such as diabetes. In this work, the impact of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic on hospitalizations for severe diabetic decompensation in a Portuguese hospital was assessed. METHODS: A retrospective study by hospital clinical file consultation was performed and a cohort of 177 patients admitted to a Portuguese hospital with a diagnosis of DKA or hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state HHS, excluding SARS-CoV2 infected patients, between 2019 and 2020 was analysed. RESULTS: In the population not infected by SARS-CoV2, statistically significant differences were found in the relative number of hospitalizations (5.59 vs 3.79 hospitalizations for DKA/HHS per 1000 patients not infected with SARS-CoV2, p = 0.0093) and lethality due to DKA/HHS (0941 vs 0337 deaths from DKA/HHS per 1000 patients not infected with SARS-CoV2, p = 0.0251). This increase in hospitalizations and lethality was accompanied by a statistically significant increase in newly type 2 diabetes diagnosis in DKA/HHS hospital admissions (p = 0.0156) and by a statistically significant increase in average age of patients (56.3 ± 22.4 vs 69.1 ± 17.6, p < 0.001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: These results show the empirical perspective that the consequences of the pandemic also had a considerable impact on the control of chronic diseases such as diabetes, with a higher percentage of hospitalizations due to severe decompensation, especially in the elderly population.