ESPE Abstracts

The COVID-19 pandemic has an impact on the incidence of type 1 diabetes. It is important to synthesize estimates of changes in incidence rates.

Aim: To compare the incidence rates of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in children of Saratov region during and before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective multicenter study involving new onset T1DM paediatric patients (0-17 y.o.) in Saratov region, during periods 1994-2023 years.

Results: Incidence of T1DM in children of Saratov from 1994 to 2019 it increased by 3 times (8 cases in 1994 and 24 cases in 2019 per 100,000 paediatric person). The type 1 diabetes incidence rate increased during the COVID-19 pandemic vs before the pandemic among children and adolescents (32 cases in 2020 and 28 cases in 2021 per 100,000 paediatric person). The incidence of new onset DM1 among children in the Saratov region remains high (26 cases in 2022 and 29 cases in 2023 per 100,000 paediatric person).

Conclusions: New onset T1DM increased during the pandemic. Further studies are required to evaluate the mechanism leading to this rise to guide intervention measures. It is important to further study the prevalence and features of the course of T1DM in children who have been ill COVID-19, compared with those who have not had coronavirus infection and vaccinated children.