Even when asthma patients are infected by Covid-19, the underlying disease does not necessarily exert a negative influence on their symptoms, a recent study has shown.
A Gangnam Severance Hospital research team, led by Professor Park Hye-jung of the Department of Pulmonary, studied the effects asthma and its severity have on the prognosis of Covid-19. And the researchers found that having asthma, its degree of severity, and using asthma medicine do not have any meaningful effects on the prognosis of Covid-19.
Asthma shows repetitive symptoms of coughing, wheezing, suffocating chest, and difficulty in breathing. Therefore, inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are a typical treatment used. Due to the prolonged case of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, asthma patients have hesitated to use these inhalants for fear of respiratory infection.
The Global Initiative for Asthma encourages continuous use of asthma drugs, especially ICS and oral corticosteroid, even amid Covid-19. Halting asthma drugs can lead to the potential danger of symptom aggravation.
However, there have been no researches that gave this recommendation a factual basis.
The research team analyzed the correlation between having asthma and Covid-19 infection in 7,590 Koreans confirmed positive from the Covid-19 outbreak to May last year. Some 2.9 percent of them, or 218 Covid-19 patients, had asthma. They used the data at the Ministry of Health and Welfare and National Health Insurance Service.
Through the use of logistics regression analysis, the team changed other variables like age, gender and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) number, and others that affected Covid-19 progression and made comparative analysis.
As a result, before the change, it looked as if having asthma or the severity of asthma had a negative effect on the Covid-19 infection. However, after the change, having asthma had no relationship with the mortality rate, entering the ICU, the longevity of hospitalization, and the cost of treatment after the Covid-19 infection.
“With many variables corrected, there is not enough evidence that shows asthma patients have a possibility of negative Covid-19 progression than the general Covid-19 patients. Hence, there is no need for anxiety,” Professor Park said.
She added that the asthma drug does not negatively affect the Covid-19 progression, either. Instead, a sudden stop of the use of drugs may lead to aggravation of asthma symptoms. Therefore, the continuous use of drugs is recommended.
The result of the study was published in “European Respiratory Journal” with the title “Effect of Asthma and Asthma Medication on the Prognosis of Patients with COVID-19.”