Prevention measures against COVID-19 performed by people with diabetes mellitus

Abstract

In the absence of treatment and vaccine against coronavirus, preventive measures must be adopted, especially by people with diabetes. The objective was to identify the preventive measures against the new coronavirus carried out by people with diabetes. This is a cross-sectional study carried out with 214 people with diabetes through a questionnaire provided by a Google forms link in June 2020. We used descriptive statistics and the Spearman test to compare means. Most participants were female (85.9%), young adults (84.1%), with type 1 diabetes (76.7%), and without complications (74.2%). A high average of glycated hemoglobin (7.5 ± 1.4), changes in selfcare routine (72%) and in blood glucose levels (72.8%), wearing masks (98.1%), washing hands with soap and water (96.7%), using alcohol gel (94.4%), and social distancing (85%) were observed. It is essential to reinforce care for the metabolic control of people with diabetes, in addition to optimizing strategies against the COVID-19 epidemic with a view to preventing and promoting health.