Association between the reduction of face-to-face appointments and the control of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus during the Covid-19 pandemic in Catalonia

AIM: To analyse the relation between face-to-face appointments and management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) visited in primary care practices (PCP). METHODS: Retrospective study in 287 primary care practices (PCPs) attending>300,000 patients with T2DM. We analysed the results of 9 diabetes-related indicators of the Healthcare quality standard, comprising foot and retinopathy screening, blood pressure (BP) and glycemic control; and the incidence of T2DM. We calculated each indicator’s percentage of change in 2020 with respect to the results of 2019. RESULTS: Indicators’ results were reduced in 2020 compared to 2019, highlighting the indicators of foot and retinopathy screening (-51.6% and −25.7%, respectively); the glycemic control indicator (-21.2%); the BP control indicator (–33.7%) and the incidence of T2DM (-25.6%). Conversely, the percentage of type 2 diabetes patients with HbA1c > 10% increased by 34%. PCPs with<11 weekly face-to-face appointments offered per professional had greater reductions than those PCPs with more than 40. For instance, a reduction of −60.7% vs −38.2% (p-value < 0.001) in the foot screening’s indicator; −27.5% vs −12.5% (p-value < 0.001) in glycemic control and −40.2 vs −24.3% (p-value < 0.001) in BP control. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing face-to-face visits offered may impact T2DM patients’ follow-up and thus worsen their control.