593-P: Similar Rate of Positive Depression Screen in Youth with Diabetes Before and During the COVID-Pandemic: Still No Reason for Complacency

Abstract

Adolescents with diabetes mellitus (DM) experience depression 2-3 times higher than the general population. Little is known about the impact of the COVID pandemic. We aimed to identify the prevalence of depression among youth with DM before and during the pandemic and associated factors in a large academic children’s hospital. Patient health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) screens completed in fall 20 and 2020 (n=216 vs. 194 respectively) were reviewed. 187 subjects (81%) completed the screen at both periods (54% female, 97% white, 97% with type 1 DM (T1D) , mean (SD) age 15.1 (2.7) years, duration of DM 7.2 (4.2) years) . Among youth with T1D, 55% used insulin pumps and 64% continuous glucose monitor (CGM) . When comparing 20to 2020, median [IQR] PHQ-9 score (1 [0-3] vs. 0 [0-3], p=0.76) or rates of depression (17 vs. 15%, p=0.65) were not different. In 2011%, 4% and 2% had mild (PHQ-9 score 5-9) , moderate (score 10-14) , and severe (score >14) depression respectively with similar rates in 2020 at 10%, 2% and 3% There was no difference in mean HbA1c between 20 and 2020 (8.2±1.7 vs. 8.2± 1.8% respectively, p=0.99) . Using 20data, PHQ-9 score was significantly positively correlated with HbA1c (rho=0.22, p=0.003) and BMI z-score (rho=0.22, p=0.003) , but not to age (rho-0.02, p=0.73) , or duration of diabetes (rho=0.04, p=0.55) . Depression was more prevalent in females (21% vs. 12%, p=0.09) and in youth with no CGM use (24 vs. 12%, p=0.047) . Suicidal ideation was reported in 4 (2%) of youth in 20 and 3 (1.5%) in 2020. Our results suggest that the prevalence/severity of depression during the first year of the pandemic did not change in youth with DM compared to the previous year, the reason perhaps being that ∼ 90% of patients in our institution continued to being followed up, albeit virtually, during the pandemic. Still, almost 1/5 of adolescents with DM scored positive for depression highlighting the need to support the behavioral needs of youth with T1D. Disclosure S.Sriram: None. L.M.Leikam: None. C.March: None. J.Schreiber: None. R.Muzumdar: None. I.Libman: Consultant; Novo Nordisk.