Communication frequency between visits is associated with improved glycemic control in pediatric diabetes
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Rohini Verma
Abstract
Objectives
Children with diabetes are advised to see their diabetes team every 3 months, with interim communication to address insulin dose adjustments. Despite increasing digital accessibility, there is limited data on whether provider–patient communication frequency is associated with glycemic control in pediatric diabetes. We assessed patterns of communication between diabetes clinic visits and whether communication frequency via electronic messaging (EM) and telephone was associated with glycemic control in pediatric diabetes.
Methods
Retrospective chart review of 267 children with type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) over a 1-year period (July 2018–June 2019) at an urban academic pediatric diabetes center. Association between frequency of communication (via EM and telephone) and HbA1c was analyzed using regression analysis.
Results
Of 267 participants, 224 (84%) had T1DM, 43 (16%) had T2DM, mean age 11.6 years (SD 4), mean duration of diabetes 3.5 years (SD 3.4), and mean HbA1c 73.8 ± 23 mmol/mol (8.9 ± 2.2%). Most participants (82%) communicated with their diabetes team at least once per year, with a mean number of overall communications of 10.3 ± 13.6 times. Communications were via EM (48%), phone (40%), or both (53%). Participants with more frequent communication had lower HbA1c values (p=0.007), even when controlling for age, sex, provider, and number of clinic visits per year. We determined that a threshold of three communications per year was associated with a lower HbA1c (p=0.006).
Conclusions
More frequent communication with the diabetes team between visits is associated with improved glycemic control. Initiatives to contact diabetes patients between clinic visits may impact their overall glycemic control.
Acknowledgments
None.
Research funding: None declared.
Author contributions: R.V., M.W., C.G., and R.W designed the research study. R.V., M.W., C.G., C.T., and R.W performed the research and extracted the data. R.W. and L.P. analyzed the data. R.V, C.T., and R.W wrote the paper. R.V., C.T., M.W., L.P., C.G., J.T., K.A, S.M., and R.W. have all read and approved the final article. All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted article and approved submission.
Competing interests: No competing interests.
Informed consent: This retrospective study was IRB approved with a waiver of consent.
Ethical approval: Research involving human subjects complied with all relevant national regulations, institutional policies and is in accordance with the tenets of the Helsinki Declaration (as revised in 2013), and has been approved by the authors’ Institutional Review Board (xxxx) or equivalent committee. (xxx-Nr.: xx/x)
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© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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- Review Article
- The current review of adolescent obesity: the role of genetic factors
- Original Articles
- Trends in abdominal obesity among Chinese children and adolescents, 1993–2015
- Association of childhood obesity with retinal microvasculature and corneal endothelial cell morphology
- Communication frequency between visits is associated with improved glycemic control in pediatric diabetes
- Increased length of stay and hospital charges in adolescents with type 1 diabetes and psychiatric illness
- Distance from the endocrinology clinic and diabetes control in a rural pediatric population
- Care of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus in school – An interventional study
- Treatment and long-term follow-up of patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus before age 5
- Diabetes distress in Indian children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their mothers
- Impact of lockdown for COVID-19 pandemic in Indian children and youth with type 1 diabetes from different socio-economic classes
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- Impact of growth hormone treatment on scoliosis development and progression: analysis of 1128 patients with idiopathic short stature
- Short Communication
- Are we ignoring coexisting rhabdomyolysis as an important aggravating factor for acute kidney injury among childhood diabetic ketoacidosis?
- Case Reports
- Microdeletion in the IGF-1 receptor gene of a patient with short stature and obesity: a case report
- SLC25A19 deficiency and bilateral striatal necrosis with polyneuropathy: a new case and review of the literature
- Familial neonatal nonautoimmune hyperthyroidism due to a gain-of-function (D619G) thyrotropin-receptor mutation
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Review Article
- The current review of adolescent obesity: the role of genetic factors
- Original Articles
- Trends in abdominal obesity among Chinese children and adolescents, 1993–2015
- Association of childhood obesity with retinal microvasculature and corneal endothelial cell morphology
- Communication frequency between visits is associated with improved glycemic control in pediatric diabetes
- Increased length of stay and hospital charges in adolescents with type 1 diabetes and psychiatric illness
- Distance from the endocrinology clinic and diabetes control in a rural pediatric population
- Care of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus in school – An interventional study
- Treatment and long-term follow-up of patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus before age 5
- Diabetes distress in Indian children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their mothers
- Impact of lockdown for COVID-19 pandemic in Indian children and youth with type 1 diabetes from different socio-economic classes
- First report on the nationwide prevalence of paediatric type 1 diabetes in Serbia and temporal trends of diabetes ketoacidosis at diagnosis—a multicentre study
- Factors affecting thyroid volume in adolescent students attending a rural middle school in East Hangzhou, China
- Impact of maternal thyroid disease on neonatal thyroid status
- Impact of growth hormone treatment on scoliosis development and progression: analysis of 1128 patients with idiopathic short stature
- Short Communication
- Are we ignoring coexisting rhabdomyolysis as an important aggravating factor for acute kidney injury among childhood diabetic ketoacidosis?
- Case Reports
- Microdeletion in the IGF-1 receptor gene of a patient with short stature and obesity: a case report
- SLC25A19 deficiency and bilateral striatal necrosis with polyneuropathy: a new case and review of the literature
- Familial neonatal nonautoimmune hyperthyroidism due to a gain-of-function (D619G) thyrotropin-receptor mutation
- Transient neonatal diabetes due to a disease causing novel variant in the ATP-binding cassette subfamily C member 8 (ABCC8) gene unmasks maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) diabetes cases within a family
