Teleconsultation for Pediatric Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of a University Hospital in Brazil

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic expanded rapidly around the world in 2020 and health services needed to be reconfigured to meet the new demand and ensure the care of patients with chronic diseases, whether or not aggravated by this COVID-19 (disease caused by SARS-Cov-2). For patients with chronic diseases - such as diabetes mellitus - the teleconsultation stood out as a tool for clinical management in this period. This study aims to evaluate the impact of teleconsultation on glycemic control and prevention of acute complications related to diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents treated by the pediatric endocrinology team at Hospital das Clínicas, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo (HC-FMRP -USP) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Method: Descriptive study of data from pediatric diabetic patients who received teleconsultation via messages in the months of April to September 2020. Results: Regarding the patients evaluated (N = 143), there were 3.4 teleconsultations per patient in the studied period; requiring adjustment of insulin doses in 84.6% of cases. The hospital admission rate was 17.5% due to diabetic decompensation and / or the opening of diabetes mellitus. The dosage of glycosylated hemoglobin showed a worsening in 46% of the sample and an improvement in 37%. Conclusion: The teleconsultation was effective in ensuring health care for patients with DM1 during the COVID-19 pandemic.