Glucose control in diabetes during home confinement for the first pandemic wave of COVID-19: a meta-analysis of observational studies

AIM: To assess the effect on glycaemic control of confinement due to lockdown measures, during COVID-19 pandemic, in people with type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 (T2DM) diabetes. METHODS: Meta-analysis of observational studies reporting measures of glucose control and variability before and during and/or after periods of confinement caused by COVID-19 in 2020 and/or 2021. RESULTS: We included 27 studies on T1DM. No significant change in Hba1c was observed after lockdown (WMD − 1.474 [− 3.26; 0.31] mmol/mol, I(2) = 93.9). TIR significantly increased during and after lockdown (WMD: 2.73 1.47; 4.23 %, I(2) = 81% and 3.73 [1.13; 5.33] %, I(2) = 85%, respectively).We retrieved nine studies on T2DM patients. No significant variation in HbA1c was detected (WMD − 1.257 − 3.91; 1.39 mmol/mol, I(2) = 98.3%). HbA1c had a more favourable trend in studies performed in Asia than in Europe (p = 0.022 between groups). CONCLUSION: Lockdown showed no significant detrimental effect on HbA1c in either T1DM or T2DM. Conversely, home confinement led to a reduction in mean glucose and glucose variability in T1DM, although with a high heterogeneity of results. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00592-021-01754-2.