TY - JOUR
T1 - Asthma in patients with suspected and diagnosed coronavirus disease 2019
AU - Cao, Lijuan
AU - Lee, Sandra
AU - Krings, James
AU - Rauseo, Adriana M.
AU - Reynolds, Daniel
AU - Presti, Rachel
AU - Goss, Charles
AU - Mudd, Philip
AU - O'Halloran, Jane A.
AU - Wang, Leyao
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (grant number 5R21AI139649-02). This study used samples obtained from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis’s coronavirus disease biorepository, which is supported by the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation; the Siteman Cancer Center (grant number P30 CA091842 from the National Cancer Institute of the NIH); and the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (grant number UL1TR002345 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the NIH). The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - Background: Patients with asthma are comparatively susceptible to respiratory viral infections and more likely to develop severe symptoms than people without asthma. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is necessary to adequately evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of the population with asthma in the population tested for and diagnosed as having COVID-19. Objective: To perform a study to assess the impact of asthma on COVID-19 diagnosis, presenting symptoms, disease severity, and cytokine profiles. Methods: This was an analysis of a prospectively collected cohort of patients suspected of having COVID-19 who presented for COVID-19 testing at a tertiary medical center in Missouri between March 2020 and September 2020. We classified and analyzed patients according to their pre-existing asthma diagnosis and subsequent COVID-19 testing results. Results: Patients suspected of having COVID-19 (N = 435) were enrolled in this study. The proportions of patients testing positive for COVID-19 were 69.2% and 81.9% in the groups with asthma and without asthma, respectively. The frequencies of relevant symptoms were similar between the groups with asthma with positive and negative COVID-19 test results. In the population diagnosed as having COVID-19 (n = 343), asthma was not associated with several indicators of COVID-19 severity, including hospitalization, admission to an intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation, death due to COVID-19, and in-hospital mortality after multivariate adjustment. Patients with COVID-19 with asthma exhibited significantly lower levels of plasma interleukin-8 than patients without asthma (adjusted P = .02). Conclusion: The population with asthma is facing a challenge in preliminary COVID-19 evaluation owing to an overlap in the symptoms of COVID-19 and asthma. However, asthma does not increase the risk of COVID-19 severity if infected.
AB - Background: Patients with asthma are comparatively susceptible to respiratory viral infections and more likely to develop severe symptoms than people without asthma. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is necessary to adequately evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of the population with asthma in the population tested for and diagnosed as having COVID-19. Objective: To perform a study to assess the impact of asthma on COVID-19 diagnosis, presenting symptoms, disease severity, and cytokine profiles. Methods: This was an analysis of a prospectively collected cohort of patients suspected of having COVID-19 who presented for COVID-19 testing at a tertiary medical center in Missouri between March 2020 and September 2020. We classified and analyzed patients according to their pre-existing asthma diagnosis and subsequent COVID-19 testing results. Results: Patients suspected of having COVID-19 (N = 435) were enrolled in this study. The proportions of patients testing positive for COVID-19 were 69.2% and 81.9% in the groups with asthma and without asthma, respectively. The frequencies of relevant symptoms were similar between the groups with asthma with positive and negative COVID-19 test results. In the population diagnosed as having COVID-19 (n = 343), asthma was not associated with several indicators of COVID-19 severity, including hospitalization, admission to an intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation, death due to COVID-19, and in-hospital mortality after multivariate adjustment. Patients with COVID-19 with asthma exhibited significantly lower levels of plasma interleukin-8 than patients without asthma (adjusted P = .02). Conclusion: The population with asthma is facing a challenge in preliminary COVID-19 evaluation owing to an overlap in the symptoms of COVID-19 and asthma. However, asthma does not increase the risk of COVID-19 severity if infected.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103131550&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.anai.2021.02.020
DO - 10.1016/j.anai.2021.02.020
M3 - Article
C2 - 33639262
AN - SCOPUS:85103131550
SN - 1081-1206
VL - 126
SP - 535-541.e2
JO - Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
JF - Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
IS - 5
ER -