The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in diabetes and dyslipidemia management in a Spanish region: a retrospective study of the Aragon population

Rocio Mateo-Gallego; Irene Gracia-Rubio; María Carmen Garza; Alberto Cebollada; Sofía Pérez-Calahorra; Ana Bayona-Sánchez; Cristina Bujeda-Hernández; Estibaliz Jarauta; Maria Antonia Sánchez-Calavera; Itziar Lamiquiz-Moneo

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1191026

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in diabetes and dyslipidemia management in a Spanish region: a retrospective study of the Aragon population

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Jul 6:10:1191026. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1191026. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), CIBERCV, Zaragoza, Spain.
² Department of Physiatry and Nursing, Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences, University de Zaragoza, Huesca, Spain.
³ Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, School Medicine, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁴ Computation Unit, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (IACS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain.
⁵ Department of Physiatry and Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁶ Department of Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁷ Health Research Institute of Aragon (IIS Aragón), Zaragoza, Spain.
⁸ Research Network on Preventive Activities and Health Promotion (Red de Investigación en Actividades Preventivas y Promoción de la Salud), Barcelona, Spain.
⁹ Aragones Health Service, Zaragoza, Spain.

Abstract

Introduction: Previous research has indicated that the COVID-19 outbreak had a negative impact on the diagnosis and management of cardiometabolic diseases. Our aim was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the Aragon region of Spain.

Methods: We conducted an observational retrospective study, which included data from all patients diagnosed with active T2D or dyslipidemia in Aragon during 2019-2021. Data was collected from the BIGAN platform, a big database that includes all healthcare data from the Aragon population. Clinical, biochemical, and pharmacological prescription information was obtained for each patient and for each year.

Results: Out of the total population of 1,330,000 in the Aragon region, 90,000 subjects were diagnosed with T2D each year, resulting in a prevalence of approximately 7%. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a decrease in the prevalence of this disease and a lower incidence during the year 2020. In addition, patients with T2D experienced a deterioration of their glucose profile, which led to an increase in the number of patients requiring pharmacological therapy. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was approximately 23.5% in both 2019 and 2020 and increased to 24.5% in 2021. Despite the worsening of the anthropometric profile, the lipid profile improved significantly throughout 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019. Moreover, the number of active pharmacological prescriptions increased significantly in 2021.

Discussion: Our findings suggest that the overload of the health system caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an underdiagnosis of T2D. Moreover, patients with T2D experienced a worsening of their glycemic profile, an increase in their pharmacological requirements, and lower performance of their analytical determinations. Dyslipidemic subjects improved their lipid profile although the value of lipid profile determination decreased between 2020 and 2021.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; chronic disease; dyslipidemia; health system overload; type 2 diabetes.