ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-pandemic and virtual care has impacted the care delivery of many health care conditions including diabetes. This study aimed to compare how patterns of care for diabetes have changed as a result of virtual care and the COVID-pandemic at a large academic ambulatory care facility in Toronto, Canada. Methods: Patients were included who had an initial diabetes visit between September 15, 20 and September 20, 2020. Fisher's exact test was used to determine differences in care patterns between visits pre and during COVID- (after March 14, 2020) . Results: Pre-COVID-19, there were 240 (72.7%) completed initial visits and 90 (27.3%) follow-up visits, including 27.5% and 36.7% for type 1 diabetes, respectively. During COVID-19, there were 235 (44.1%) initial visits and 298 (56%) follow-up visits including 29.4% and 27.2% for type 1 diabetes, respectively. Including all visits, there were more no-shows during COVID-19, 4.5% vs. 1.5%;p<0.05. Out of 330 pre-COVID-visits, all (100%) were done in-person. During COVID-19, out of 533 visits, 89.3% were done by phone, 7.5% by video, and only 3.2% in-person. Conclusion: During COVID-19, there were more follow-up diabetes visits seen compared to initial visits and more no-shows. Most diabetes visits were done by phone during COVID-19. More data is needed to understand how diabetes care delivery has changed as a result of virtual care during COVID-19.