Alberta diabetes cases worsening as pandemic drags on, say clinics

At Siksika Health Services, Jacey Solway is keeping a close eye on her diabetic patients, who have started to show up in greater numbers since the province began lifting COVID-19 public health measures earlier this year.

"The past two years have been really hard on a person, especially with the amount of stress that came with the pandemic — with people losing their jobs. Their normal day-to-day life was thrown off," said Solway, a chronic disease management nurse.

"We do see more clients who we haven't been able to catch in these last two years."

Diabetics require close, ongoing medical care, and Solway is finding some are showing up in need of more medication and others are simply trying to regain control of their disease.

The clinic, she said, is monitoring their needs closely and watching for any potential increase in new diagnoses.

"That's something that's on our radar here."

Dr. Doreen Rabi, a diabetes specialist, is seeing some clear trends in her Calgary clinic, more than two years into the pandemic.

"We are seeing more referrals for new onset diabetes. And I'm certainly seeing the need for increasing therapy for individuals that are living with diabetes. And then [we're] also seeing the impacts that we're seeing in every other health condition —  just worsening diabetes," said Rabi, a professor at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine.

"What we're seeing fairly consistently [in the research] is that in the year following a diagnosis of COVID, we are seeing an increased risk of new diabetes and also an increased risk of worsening diabetes."

It's yet another puzzling pandemic phenomenon.

According to Rabi, one recent U.S. study — looking at the medical records of veterans — found people with a COVID diagnosis had a 40 per cent increased risk of developing new diabetes compared with those who hadn't had a COVID-19 diagnosis or relative to a historical control group.

But this area of research is relatively new and there are still many unknowns.

While the reasons aren't entirely clear, Rabi believes there are likely a number of factors contributing to the trends she's seeing.

"While COVID could possibly alter someone's ability to make insulin, that's probably not the primary driver of new diabetes," she said.