Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes: Increased Incidence, Severity, and Contributing Factors

The COVID-19 pandemic has had dramatic, wide sweeping effects on global healthcare. In addition to the challenge of adapting care to an unfamiliar, rapidly spreading respiratory infection with unknown impacts on human health, healthcare officials and researchers noticed a worrisome uptick in both the incidence and severity of pediatric diabetes (Prosperi & Chiarelli, 2022). This review explores the relationship between COVID-19 and the significant increase in the rate and severity of pediatric type 1 diabetes during the pandemic, focusing on the impact of delayed treatment and the potential direct effects of the COVID-19 virus on pancreatic function and glucose homeostasis.