Diabetes tests ordered by GPs down 75% in pathology crash
Even among a wide-scale slump, the key blood tests have been hit especially hard, new data suggests
The number of HbA1c tests ordered by GPs has dropped by more than 75%, highlighting current concerns that patients with chronic disease are not presenting for medical care during the COVID-19 shutdown.
In general pathology testing has fallen dramatically since the beginning of the outbreak, with estimates putting the drop-off at around 40%.
But new data extracted from practice software at 1000 GP clinics in Victorian and NSW suggest the HbA1c tests have been hit even harder.
During the first week of April last year, about 6000 tests were requested across the clinics.
