Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare of people with diabetes in Germany: An updated scoping review

The present scoping review provides an update on the effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the care situation of people with diabetes in Germany. For this purpose, a systematic literature search was accomplished in scientific databases (BELIT, LIVIVO, DNB, CORDIS, MediaTUM, GEPRIS und PubMed), as well as with Google and Google Scholar. Thus, 30 studies examining the healthcare of people with diabetes during the pandemic were identified and included in the data extraction. Additionally, the methodological quality of the studies was assed. Thematically, studies refer to the following areas of health care: outpatient care, inpatient care, pharmaceutical supply, psycho-social aspects, disease management programs, quality of diabetes control, diabetes training, telemedicine, and mortality.The observation periods of almost all studies comprised at least the initial phase of the pandemic (March to May 2020) and did not go beyond the end of the second wave of the pandemic in Germany (April 2021). Most of the studies showed no significant or rather short-term effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the care situation of people with diabetes. Primarily, in the initial phase there were fewer diabetes diagnoses in the in- and outpatient sector. Moreover, a higher rate of diabetic ketoacidosis in children and adolescents with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and indications for a higher rate of major lower limb amputations in people with type 2 diabetes were found.In summary, the studies identified herein express an improved data situation. The data convince that most people with diabetes received good medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of telemedicine probably made an important contribution to this. For example, telephone or video consultations were often used to ensure medical care without the need for personal contact. In future, this experience should be used to increase the use of telemedicine approaches in the care of people with diabetes.