COVID-19 PANDEMİSİ SÜRECİNDE TİP 1 DİYABETLİ BİREYLERİN BESLENME VE FİZİKSEL AKTİVİTE DAVRANIŞLARINDAKİ DEĞİŞİMLERİN İNCELENMESİ

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically increased the importance of management of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus (DM) since the pandemic has changed patients' lifestyles. The aim of this study to investigate the effect of nutritional and physical activity alterations on Type 1 DM -blood glucose level regulation during the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 201 patients with Type 1 DM aged 15–50 years participated by completing an online questionnaire via Google Forms. The questionnaire intents to collect personal information of patients as well as their diabetes management status, their frequency of eating and basic anthropometric measures before and during the pandemic. A significant difference was found in the body weight of the individuals after quarantine compared to before quarantine (p<0.01). A significant difference was found between the HbA1c values of individuals who did and did not count CHO (p<0.05). Even though a significant change was observed in the frequency of bread consumption of individuals before and during quarantine (p<0.05), the increase in the daily total insulin dose they used did not show any significance. Considering the educational status of the individuals, it was found that the HbA1c values of university graduates and postgraduates were much lower than high school graduates (p<0.05). As a result of the study, it was concluded that the sleep patterns of the individuals were disrupted during the quarantine period, and their sleep time and screen time increased compared to before quarantine. A greater increase was observed in the sleep times of women compared to that of men (p<0.01). This highlights that maintaining regular blood glucose monitoring, appropriate insulin administration through carbohydrate counting, and consistent physical activity enables individuals with type 1 diabetes to keep HbA1c levels within the target range and improve their quality of life. Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, Diabetes management, Lifestyle changes, Quarantine, Type-1 diabetes.