The transition period from pediatric to adult care is associated with worsening glycemic control and poor attendance with adult providers, which has only been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Diabetes transition clinics and model programs may improve outcomes, but they remain few in number and underutilized. The aim of our cross-sectional, retrospective study was to compare diabetes control in our diabetes transition clinic (DTC) patients versus those who remained in pediatric endocrine care (non-DTC) over a 5 year period. A random sample of 82 patients ages 16 to 25 years seen in clinic from 9/11/2017 to 9/10/2022 were included. Each patient had at least one visit before and after 3/11/2020, when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Those who attended DTC were similar to the non-DTC group except for insurance status (Table). The DTC group had a mean HbA1c of 8.8% vs. 9.0% (p=0.80) and a mean of 4.1 vs. 3.8 visits (p=0.69); whereas, the non-DTC group had a mean HbA1c of 10% vs. 9.6% (p=0.27) and a mean of 5.2 vs. 4.2 visits (p=0.19) before versus after 3/11/2020. Telehealth visits consisted of 15.7% of the visits in the DTC group versus 13.3% in the non-DTC group after 3/11/2020 (p=0.56). Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients who moved to DTC during this time maintained glycemic control and continued to attend clinic visits consistently similar to those who remained in pediatric endocrine care.
D. S. Hsia: None. R. A. Beyl: None. R. Rumsey: None.
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U54GM104940)
