More pregnant women were diagnosed with gestational diabetes during the pandemic, and more kids received a type 2 diagnosis, according to new research presented this week at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago.
The gestational diabetes study compared gestational diabetes diagnoses in 14,663 pregnancies which took place in the 2 years preceding COVID-19, 6,890 that occurred in the first year of the pandemic (February 2020 to January 2021), and 6,654 in the second year (February 2021 to January 2022).
The study population included 82.5% non-Caucasians, and 22.7% who were at the greatest socioeconomic disadvantage. There were statistically significant rises in pre-pregnancy body-mass index and obesity rates among women in year 1 and 2 of the pandemic. Other risk factors for gestational diabetes noted in the study were South Asian ethnicity and a history of gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy.
This study highlights unrecognized implications of pandemics and pandemic-related measures on pregnancy outcomes.
The researchers found those risk factors also led to an increase in gestational diabetes cases. The incidence rose from 21% pre-pandemic to 25% in the second year, with the second year remaining significantly associated after adjusting for the birth mothers baseline characteristics and gestational weight gain, according to a press release on the study.
"This study highlights unrecognized implications of pandemics and pandemic-related measures on pregnancy outcomes and the need for initiatives to limit this impact in current and future pandemics," said researcher Yoon Ji Jina Rhou, MBBS, MPH, of the Reproduction and Perinatal Centre at the University of Sydney.
Increased type 2 diabetes diagnoses persist after first 2 years of pandemic
Another study presented at the annual meeting details the rise in type 2 debates diagnoses among children, which was hypothesized to happen in the wake of school closures, canceled activities, and increase in screen time.
Researchers compared type 1 and type 2 diabetes diagnoses at a tertiary children's hospital during four years; year 1 (March 2018 to 2019), year 2 (March 2019 to March 2020), year 3 (March 2020 to 2021), and year 4 (March 2021 to March 2022).
Type 2 diabetes incidence rose steadily across the study years: The yearly frequency for type 2 diabetes cases was 63, 45, 109, and 130, respectively, for years 1 through year 4, the authors said. The relative proportion of type 2 diabetes for year 1 was 24.8%, while year 2 was 18.9%, year 3 was 32.1% and year 4 was 33.2%.
"Even though we may have returned to pre-pandemic times in several aspects, the increased risk of our youth developing type 2 diabetes that started during the pandemic has persisted," said study author Esther Bell-Sambataro, MD, an endocrinology fellow at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
In year 1, Black children made up 31% of new type 2 diagnoses. That rose to 51.3% in year 4.
