Background

Asthma prevalence among COVID-19 patients seems to be surprisingly low. However the clinical profile of COVID-19 asthmatic patients and potential determinants of higher susceptibility/worse outcome have been scarcely investigated. We aimed to describe the prevalence and features of asthmatic patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and to explore the association between their clinical asthma profile and COVID-19 severity.

Methods

Medical records of patients admitted to COVID-Units of six Italian cities major hospitals were reviewed. Demographic and clinical data were analyzed and compared according to the COVID-19 outcome (death/need for ventilation vs discharge at home without requiring invasive procedures).

Results

Within the COVID-Units population (n = 2000) asthma prevalence was 2.1%. Among the asthmatics the mean age was 61.1 years and 60% were females. Around half of patients were atopic, blood eosinophilia was normal in most of patients. An asthma exacerbation in the 6 months before the Covid-Unit admittance was reported by 18% of patients. 24% suffered from GINA step 4–5 asthma, and 5% were under biologic treatment. 31% of patients were not on regular treatment and a negligible use of oral steroid was recorded. Within the worse outcome group, a prevalence of males was detected (64 vs 29%, p = 0.026); they suffered from more severe asthma (43 vs 14%, p = 0.040) and were more frequently current or former smokers (62 vs 25%, p = 0.038).

Conclusions

Our report, the first including a large COVID-19 hospitalized Italian population, confirms the low prevalence of asthma. On the other side patients with GINA 4/5 asthma, and those not adequately treated, should be considered at higher risk.

中文翻译：

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大型 COVID-19 队列中的哮喘：COVID-19 疾病严重程度的患病率、特征和决定因素

背景

COVID-19 患者的哮喘患病率似乎低得惊人。然而，很少研究 COVID-19 哮喘患者的临床特征和较高易感性/较差结果的潜在决定因素。我们的目的是描述因 COVID-19 而住院的哮喘患者的患病率和特征，并探讨他们的临床哮喘特征与 COVID-19 严重程度之间的关联。

方法

审查了意大利六大城市主要医院 COVID-Units 收治患者的医疗记录。根据 COVID-19 结果（死亡/需要通气与在家中出院而不需要侵入性操作）对人口统计学和临床​​数据进行分析和比较。

结果

在 COVID-Units 人群 (n = 2000) 中，哮喘患病率为 2.1%。在哮喘患者中，平均年龄为 61.1 岁，60% 为女性。大约一半的患者是特应性，大多数患者的血液嗜酸性粒细胞增多是正常的。18% 的患者报告在 Covid-Unit 入院前 6 个月内哮喘加重。24% 患有 GINA 4-5 级哮喘，5% 正在接受生物治疗。31% 的患者未接受常规治疗，口服类固醇的使用可忽略不计。在结果较差的组中，检测到男性的患病率（64 比 29%，p = 0.026）；他们患有更严重的哮喘病 (43 vs 14%, p = 0.040)，并且现在或以前吸烟的频率更高 (62 vs 25%, p = 0.038)。

结论

我们的报告是第一份包含大量 COVID-19 住院意大利人口的报告，证实了哮喘的低患病率。另一方面，患有 GINA 4/5 哮喘的患者以及那些未得到充分治疗的患者应被视为具有更高的风险。