Impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes in England.

METHODS This was a whole population study, assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of people with a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in England. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes in England Keywords: observational study; population study; type 2 diabetes EN observational study population study type 2 diabetes 3424 3429 6 10/05/23 20231101 NES 231101 BACKGROUND The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been associated with a reduction in new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes, with an estimated 60 000-70 000 missed or delayed diagnoses across the UK from March to December 2020.[[1]] Using population-based National Audit data, we aimed to: (a) compare observed with expected numbers and incidence rates of new type 2 diabetes diagnoses in England from April 2020 to March 2022 to assess whether new diagnoses in 2021/2022 made up for the reduced number earlier in the pandemic; and (b) assess whether patient characteristics in newly diagnosed people were different prepandemic versus postpandemic onset. While we have seen excess cases of new diagnoses of type 2 diabetes in those aged younger than 30 years, in older age groups, missed diagnoses seem to remain an ongoing issue, raising concerns about the heightened risk of microvascular and macrovascular complications because of suboptimally managed vascular risk factors in the undiagnosed elderly people. [Extracted from the article]