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Multicenter Study
. 2021 Mar 4;57(3):2003142.
doi: 10.1183/13993003.03142-2020. Print 2021 Mar.

The impact of COVID-19 on patients with asthma

José Luis Izquierdo  1   2 , Carlos Almonacid  2   3 , Yolanda González  4 , Carlos Del Rio-Bermudez  4 , Julio Ancochea  5   6   7 , Remedios Cárdenas  8 , Sara Lumbreras  4   9 , Joan B Soriano  10   6   7
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

The impact of COVID-19 on patients with asthma

José Luis Izquierdo et al. Eur Respir J. .

Abstract

Background: An association between the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the presence of certain chronic conditions has been suggested. However, unlike influenza and other viruses, the disease burden of COVID-19 in patients with asthma has been less evident.

Objective: To understand the impact of COVID-19 in patients with asthma.

Methods: Using big-data analytics and artificial intelligence through the SAVANA Manager clinical platform, we analysed clinical data from patients with asthma from January 1 to May 10, 2020.

Results: Out of 71 182 patients with asthma, 1006 (1.41%) suffered from COVID-19. Compared to asthmatic individuals without COVID-19, patients with asthma and COVID-19 were significantly older (55 versus 42 years), predominantly female (66% versus 59%), smoked more frequently and had higher prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidaemias, diabetes and obesity. Allergy-related factors such as rhinitis and eczema were less common in asthmatic patients with COVID-19 (p<0.001). In addition, higher prevalence of these comorbidities was observed in patients with COVID-19 who required hospital admission. The use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) was lower in patients who required hospitalisation due to COVID-19, as compared to non-hospitalised patients (48.3% versus 61.5%; OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.44-0.77). Although patients treated with biologics (n=865; 1.21%) showed increased severity and more comorbidities at the ear, nose and throat level, COVID-19-related hospitalisations in these patients were relatively low (0.23%).

Conclusion: Patients with asthma and COVID-19 were older and at increased risk due to comorbidity-related factors. ICS and biologics are generally safe and may be associated with a protective effect against severe COVID-19 infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: J.L. Izquierdo reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GSK, Grifols, Menarini, Novartis, Orion, Pfizer, Sandoz and Teva. Conflict of interest: C. Almonacid reports personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi, GSK, Menarini, Novartis and ALK. Conflict of interest: Y. González reports that they are an employee at Savana Medica. Conflict of interest: C. Del Rio-Bermudez reports that they are an employee at Savana Medica. Conflict of interest: J. Ancochea has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: R. Cárdenas has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: S. Lumbreras has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: J.B. Soriano has nothing to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flowchart depicting the total number of patients with available electronic health records (EHRs), the number of patients with asthma, the number of patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and of those, the number of hospitalisations after diagnosis during the study period (January 1 to May 10, 2020). All percentage values are computed in relation to the level immediately above.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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