COVID-19 not only worsens asthma patients but also increases the death rate < Academics/Academic < Clinics/Hospitals < Text of article

[의학신문·일간보사=김현기 기자] It was found that among adult asthma patients, after recovering from COVID-19, the probability of existing asthma disease worsening to a severe level increased by more than 50% and the probability of death increased by more than 70%.

In particular, in the case of patients recovering from severe COVID-19, the probability of worsening to severe asthma is more than 5 times higher than that of mild asthma, and the probability of death is more than 7 times higher.

The research team of Professors Sang-heon Kim, Hyun Lee, and Bo-geun Kim of the Department of Respiratory Allergy at Hanyang University Hospital studied the risk of adult asthma patients who recovered from COVID-19 infection worsening into severe asthma or dying.

Specifically, the research team used National Health Insurance Corporation big data to match 10,739 adult asthma patients aged 20 or older who recovered from COVID-19 from October to December 2020 with a control group of non-COVID-19 infected patients 1:1.

As a result, it was confirmed that among adult asthma patients, the number of patients who worsened to severe asthma after recovering from COVID-19 was 187.3 cases per 10,000 people, which is 1.57 times higher than the 119.3 cases in the control group.

The mortality rate was 128.3 per 10,000 in the COVID-19 recovery patient group, which was 1.76 times higher than the control group’s 73.5.

In addition, among adult asthma patients, the risk of severe exacerbation was 5.12 times higher and the risk of death was 7.31 times higher among patients classified as severe from COVID-19 and recovered compared to patients who recovered from mild COVID-19.

Professor Sang-heon Kim said, “According to recent studies, patients with respiratory comorbidities, including asthma, have been found to have a high risk of complications and worsening of existing diseases after recovery from COVID-19.” “It has been confirmed that the probability of deterioration or death is high, and that careful and thorough follow-up is necessary, especially in patients recovering from severe COVID-19.”

He continued, “I hope that clinicians treating asthma will make great efforts to prevent asthma patients who are not infected with COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, this study was published in the March online edition of the renowned international journal Allergy and Clinical Immunology (citation index 9.4) under the title ‘Long-term impact of COVID-19 on severe exacerbation and mortality in adult asthma: a nationwide population-based cohort study.’ .