Abstract

Background: Home confinement that happened due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic had its effects on everyone, especially diabetic patients. The present study aimed to estimate the effect of quarantine among type 2 diabetes patients in Makkah population.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from June to September 2020 in Makkah city of Saudi Arabia in partnership with Umm Alqura University. Information was collected using social media applications such as Twitter and WhatsApp, and all subjects who met the required criteria were included in the study.
Results: A total of 373 participants were included. This research showed a significant variation between glucose reading before and during quarantine. Before the quarantine, 173 patients (46.4%) had high glucose readings (p-value = 0.001) compared to 151 participants (40.5%) with high glucose readings (p-value = 0.001) during the pandemic. This applies to fasting blood glucose and postprandial blood glucose measurements as well.
Conclusion: Blood glucose monitoring is a major issue that was demonstrated between diabetic patients before and during the pandemic. Patients need to be more educated and aware about the importance of monitoring glucose level, and to know the importance of keeping their glucose under control in order to avoid complications of the disease.

Key words: Type 2 diabetes, COVID-19, Pandemic, Physical activity, Lifestyle, Lockdown