COVID-19 in children with bronchial asthma: aspects of comorbidity

Abstract

Relevance: to date, there is no single view on how COVID-19 proceeds in children with bronchial asthma. At the same time, bronchial asthma is observed in 14% of children in the population and their number continues to increase. COVID-19, despite the end of the pandemic, also remains one of the most common infections, and therefore the features of its course in comorbid children are of interest. Objective: to determine the features of the clinical course, laboratory and instrumental examination data, and to analyze the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatment in children with bronchial asthma. Materials and methods: 25 children with COVID-19 who suffered from bronchial asthma (observation group) and 25 children with this infection without asthma (comparison group) were monitored. All patients were examined in accordance with the current regulatory documents on COVID-19, followed by statistical processing of the results. Results: cough and shortness of breath were observed more often and longer in comorbid patients. Viral lung damage with the development of mild respiratory failure was more common in children with bronchial asthma. In this group, there was a more pronounced tendency to hypercoagulation and systemic inflammatory response relative to patients in the comparison group. At the same time, against the background of adequate treatment, which turned out to be significantly longer in all types of therapy, with the exception of anticoagulant, coagulogram parameters and protein levels of the acute phase of inflammation in the dynamics normalized in both observed groups. As a result, patients with COVID-19 and bronchial asthma spent significantly longer in hospital than children who did not have a anamnesis of bronchial asthma. Conclusion: COVID-19 in children with bronchial asthma was somewhat more severe compared to those who did not suffer from bronchial asthma. Cough and shortness of breath were clinically prevalent, symptoms characteristic of both diseases, but there were no typical exacerbations of asthma in this group.