Tallon, E. M, Ebekozien, O, Sanchez, J, Staggs, V, Ferro, D, Shyu C-R, Clements, M.

Introduction: Numerous studies have investigated the impact and increased severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adult patients with diabetes. However, findings from older adult patients cannot be generalized to affected children and young adults.

Objectives: In this nationwide retrospective cohort study, we examine whether race/ethnicity and other factors are associated with hospitalization and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in pediatric and young adult patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and COVID-19 infection.

Methods: The de-identified COVID-19 patient dataset from the December 2020 release of Cerner Real-World DataTM contains longitudinal data for patients who received care at 87 US-based health systems between December 2019 and September 2020. We used a validated algorithm to identify patients with T1D. Analysis was limited to patients <27 years old with a positive laboratory test or billing code consistent with COVID-19 infection. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine race/ethnicity, gender, HbA1c, body mass index (BMI), mean blood glucose, age, payer, and Elixhauser comorbidity score (ECS) as correlates of hospital admission and DKA.

Click here to read the full abstract