Clinical characteristics of adult asthma patients hospitalized by COVID-19 in Mexico City: a real-world study

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about whether individuals with chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma, were at higher risk of severe outcomes. Although several studies were published on this topic, not all included asthma as a risk factor. Therefore, describing the clinical characteristics of COVID-19-infected asthma patients in a specialized respiratory center is valuable as a real-life study.

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics and disease severity in SARS-CoV-2-infected adults with pre-existing asthma hospitalized at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER) in Mexico City.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational study on adults with confirmed COVID-19 hospitalized from March 2020 to June 2021. Out of 2,249 reviewed medical records, we identified asthmatic patients and compared them with a matched non-asthmatic control group to assess asthma's impact on COVID-19 severity and outcomes.

Results: Based on the clinical records, asthma prevalence among hospitalized patients was low (1.51%); of these, 73% had allergic and 27% had non-allergic asthma. COVID-19 severity did not vary significantly between asthma phenotypes, although there was higher mortality among patients with non-allergic asthma. Most patients in both groups developed a severe form of the disease and higher mortality rates than non-asthmatics, though the differences were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Asthma prevalence among patients with COVID-19 was low, but mortality was higher in asthma patients. Although the small sample size limits the generalizability of these findings, this study in a Mexican population hospitalized in a reference hospital provides insights for improving asthma management in future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; asthma; comorbidities; risk factors.

Figure 1.

Study population diagram. Clinical records of patients hospitalized at INER from March 2020 to June 2021 were explored to identify patients with previous asthma disease. The inclusion criteria were adult residents of Mexico City with a positive molecular diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, a sample of 90 clinical records of patients without previous asthma disease matched by age, sex, and smoking were included in the comparison analysis. In total, 120 patients were included to assess the association analysis.