Covid Can Worsen Asthma In Children, New Study Warns

A study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology said, Infected children had significantly more asthma visits, hospitalizations, emergency inhaler use, and steroid treatments during the six months after their illness compared to children who tested negative and to their own prior history.

Meanwhile, children who tested negative for the virus “had improved asthma control for the next six months, meaning fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma, and less asthma treatment,” said Dr. Christine Chou of Children’s Health of Orange County, in California .

For the study, the researchers tested nearly 62,000 US children with asthma who had PCR tests for the virus in the first year of the pandemic, including more than 7,700 who tested positive.

Results of earlier studies showing improvement in asthma control in the early part of the pandemic were likely due to public health measures like staying home and masking, which curved exposure to asthma triggers, she said. Despite the overall impression that children with asthma did well during the first year of the pandemic, Chou added, the new study shows “longer lasting harm of COVID on children’s asthma control.”

Earlier, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also warned that patients with moderate to severe asthma could be at greater risk for more severe disease. COVID-19 can affect the respiratory tract, cause an asthma attack and possibly lead to pneumonia and respiratory disease.