Aim: To describe the exposure and impact of COVID-19 in teens with T1D and associations with health outcomes.
Methods: In the first month of an intervention trial to reduce distress in teens with T1D, COVID-19 emerged. Thus, in addition to planned surveys (Table), participants reported on COVID-19 exposure and perceived impact of the pandemic. Subscales assessed: 1) COVID-19 exposure - a tally of whether teen/important contact was diagnosed, hospitalized, or died, 2) Pandemic-impact - overall worry/feelings about the pandemic (range: 2-10), and 3) T1D-impact - pandemic effect on diabetes care (range: 13-65). Higher scores indicated more exposure or perceived impact. Pearson correlations described all associations.
Results: Of the 172 teens (A1C M=8.7%±2.0%, 56% female, 73% White, 19% Hispanic), 50% reported no exposures, 23% reported 1, 24% 2-3, and 2% 4-7 exposures. Mean pandemic-impact score was 5.6±1.6 (range=2-10), while mean T1D-impact was 36.8±6.9 (range=18-54). Table summarizes associations of subscales with A1C and behavioral markers.
Conclusions: COVID-19 exposure and perceived impact were consistently linked with worse psychosocial and behavioral metrics and A1C for teens with T1D. In particular, associations with T1D-impact were strong. These findings suggest the impact of stressful life events should be monitored within the context of T1D management.
J.Yi-frazier: None. M.Bradford: None. C.Zhou: None. A.Rosenberg: None. M.E.Hilliard: None. M.B.O'donnell: None. B.M.Ellisor: None. S.Garcia perez: None. F.Malik: None. Y.Rojas: None. D.Desalvo: Consultant; Dexcom, Inc., Research Support; Insulet Corporation. C.Pihoker: None. S.R.Scott: None.
National Institutes of Health (R01DK121224)
