210-LB: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Outcomes of Patients with Diabetes in Colombia

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Objective: Aside the direct health implications of COVID-19, pandemic has had multiple consequences, especially in chronic patients. This paper aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and the search for health care of patients with diabetes in Colombia. Methods: Nationwide ecological panel study of secondary data from the Colombian official records of mortality and medical attentions due to diabetes between 2015 and 2021. Hospitalizations, ambulatory and emergency care visits, as well as death rates were assessed once adjusted by the availability of specialized health institutions and rurality. Results: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mortality rate from diabetes increased by 30.4% (pre-pandemic average by semester: 7.73 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants; pandemic average: 10.08 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), the average rate of medical attention increased by 67.2% (pre-pandemic: 3163 per 100.000; pandemic: 5290 per 100.000), in which, ambulatory care arose by 44.6% and hospitalizations by 42.3%. Rurality was inversely associated with health visits, and the availability of tertiary care institutions was associated with both diabetes mortality and medical consultations. Conclusions: Beyond the direct effect of the COVID-19 virus on patients with diabetes, their overall health outcomes worsened during pandemic. Availability of high specialized health facilities is related to the number of medical consultations, which suggests that people who did not have access to specialized health services were neglected. Actual and total impact of COVID-19 pandemic in patients with diabetes remains unclear. Disclosure J. Moreno-montoya: None. S. Ballesteros: None. J. De la hoz-valle: None.