Study shows that control of blood sugar levels improved among people with type 1 diabetes who stopped working during lockdown

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-09/d-sst092120.php

News Release 22-Sep-2020
Diabetologia

New research presented at this year's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) shows that among people with type 1 diabetes who stopped working in the COVID-19 lockdown, blood sugar levels improved during the first week of lockdown despite having reduced opportunities for exercise and heightened psychological stress. The study was undertaken by Dr Federico Boscari and colleagues at the Department of Medicine, University of Padova, Italy.

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The researchers speculate that the improvement in patients who stopped working occurred due to them having more time to focus on diabetes control and a more regular lifestyle, including the timing and composition of meals. They also suggest: "In addition, the knowledge that diabetes worsens the outcomes of COVID-19 may have improved patients' awareness and compliance to diabetes management."

They acknowledge that participants had relatively good blood sugar control to begin with, so it is unclear whether the same results would apply to patients with worse glucose control or less frequent sensor scans. Lastly, only one week of lockdown was studied due to subsequent weeks introducing potential bias from patients having been contacted by the clinic with advice on diabetes management. Despite this, the data collected after this first week of lockdown suggests that this better blood sugar control continued in the patients who stopped working. Furthermore, other research from Spain backs the findings of this study.

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