1. Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Asthma: Practice Adjustments and Disease Burden
- Author
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James E. Gern, Antoine Deschildre, Zhimin Chen, Cindy De Lira, Paraskevi Xepapadaki, Leonard B. Bacharier, Rola Abou Taam, Francine M. Ducharme, Susanne Lau, Yunuen R. Huerta Villalobos, Alessandro Fiocchi, Alan Kaplan, Gunilla Hedlin, Berenice Velasco Benhumea, Peter N. Le Souëf, Laurence Weiss, Jean Christophe Dubus, Monica Medley, Zeinab A El-Sayed, Adnan Custovic, Jose A. Castro-Rodriguez, Major Najaraju, Wanda Phipatanakul, Matteo Bonini, Omer Kalayci, Heather J. Zar, Leyla Namazova-Baranova, Clare S. Murray, Cyril Schweitzer, Robert F. Lemanske, Hugo Azuara, Timothy J. Craig, Graham Roberts, Stanley J. Szefler, Jacques Brouard, Ioana Agache, Mário Morais-Almeida, Elham Hossny, Antonio Nieto Garcia, Pascal Roux, Jon R Konradsen, Tuomas Jartti, Teija Dunder, Nikolaos G. Papadopoulos, Paulo Márcio Pitrez, Wojciech Feleszko, Karthik Nagaraju, Mika J. Mäkelä, Luis Garcia-Marcos, K Efendieva, Rosalaura Villarreal, Piotr Kuna, Osman Yusuf, Alexander G. Mathioudakis, Andrzej Emeryk, Pierrick Cros, Julia Levina, Cesar Fireth Pozo Beltrán, Marja Ruotsalainen, Arunas Valiulis, René Maximiliano Gómez, Nidia Karen, Daniela Rivero Yeverino, Anne Goh, Petr Pohunek, Eckard Hamelmann, Carole Egron, Anna Zawadzka-Krajewska, Gary Wong, HUS Inflammation Center, Department of Dermatology, Allergology and Venereology, Clinicum, and Helsinki University Hospital Area
- Subjects
Pediatrics ,Time Factors ,Global Health ,Severity of Illness Index ,0302 clinical medicine ,Interquartile range ,immune system diseases ,Pandemic ,Global health ,Immunology and Allergy ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Child ,Children ,COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 ,education.field_of_study ,Incidence (epidemiology) ,Telemedicine ,3. Good health ,Virus ,Adherence, Asthma, COVID-19, Children, Control, SARS-CoV2, Virus ,Coronavirus Infections ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Pediatric Asthma in Real Life Collaborators ,Population ,Pneumonia, Viral ,Criança ,SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ,Article ,Medication Adherence ,03 medical and health sciences ,Appointments and Schedules ,Betacoronavirus ,Severity of illness ,Control ,Humans ,education ,Pandemics ,Disease burden ,IQR, interquartile range ,Asma ,Asthma ,business.industry ,SARS-CoV-2 ,COVID-19 ,medicine.disease ,respiratory tract diseases ,030228 respiratory system ,Adherence ,3121 General medicine, internal medicine and other clinical medicine ,SARS-CoV2 ,business - Abstract
BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether asthma may affect susceptibility or severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children and how pediatric asthma services worldwide have responded to the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric asthma services and on disease burden in their patients. METHODS: An online survey was sent to members of the Pediatric Asthma in Real Life think tank and the World Allergy Organization Pediatric Asthma Committee. It included questions on service provision, disease burden, and the clinical course of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection among children with asthma. RESULTS: Ninety-one respondents, caring for an estimated population of more than 133,000 children with asthma, completed the survey. COVID-19 significantly impacted pediatric asthma services: 39% ceased physical appointments, 47% stopped accepting new patients, and 75% limited patients' visits. Consultations were almost halved to a median of 20 (interquartile range, 10-25) patients per week. Virtual clinics and helplines were launched in most centers. Better than expected disease control was reported in 20% (10%-40%) of patients, whereas control was negatively affected in only 10% (7.5%-12.5%). Adherence also appeared to increase. Only 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported among the population; the estimated incidence is not apparently different from the reports of general pediatric cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: Children with asthma do not appear to be disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Outcomes may even have improved, possibly through increased adherence and/or reduced exposures. Clinical services have rapidly responded to the pandemic by limiting and replacing physical appointments with virtual encounters. (C) 2020 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
- Published
- 2020