COVID-19 in Patients with Asthma: Review and Implications for Care of Adult Patients with an Osteopathic Component

Abstract

Patients with asthma who have COVID-19 typically present with rhinitis, rhinosinusitis, cough, and shortness of breath and rarely with wheezing. Family physicians should consider a patient’s asthma subtype, pertinent medical history, and medications. Maintenance medications, including inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), should be continued for most patients. Whether to start ICS in patients with asthma who have COVID-19 should be considered, as the risks and benefits are unclear, and systemic corticosteroids should be avoided in patients with asthma who have COVID-19 if alternatives exist. Pregnant patients with both asthma and COVID-19 should be comanaged by an obstetrician, with consideration for early induction of labor. Behavioral health topics and osteopathic principles and manipulative techniques should be considered in patients with COVID-19 and asthma. Generalities are challenging to make, but patients with asthma do not seem to have worse outcomes with COVID-19 than patients without asthma.