Impact of COVID-19 on pediatric asthma: practice adjustments and disease burden.
File(s)COVID PeARL survey_Revision_clean.docx (57.7 KB) Online supplement_clean.docx (30.28 KB)
Accepted version
Supporting information
Author(s)
Papadopoulos, Nikolaos G
Custovic, Adnan
Deschildre, Antoine
Mathioudakis, Alexander G
Phipatanakul, Wanda
Type
Journal Article
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.
Date Issued
2020-09
Date Acceptance
2020-06-01
Citation
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 2020, 8 (8), pp.2592-2599.e3
ISSN
2213-2198
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
2592
End Page
2599.e3
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice
Volume
8
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32561497
PII: S2213-2198(20)30599-7
Subjects
Adherence
Asthma
COVID-19
Children
Control
SARS-CoV2
Virus
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2020-06-17