Study: No link between COVID-19 and asthma in children
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Key takeaways:
- COVID-19 does not increase the risk for asthma in children, a study showed.
- Factors such as Black race, food allergies and allergic rhinitis did increase the risk.
Researchers found no association between a positive COVID-19 test and the development of asthma in children, according to a study published in Pediatrics.
Children with asthma have shown resilience following bouts with COVID-19, but whether or not the disease makes children without asthma more susceptible to it has been less explored.
“The COVID-19 pandemic altered our lives in many ways. One major concern was if there were going to be lasting effects of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in kids — in particular, whether SARS-CoV-2 infection would increase the risk of chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma,” David A. Hill, MD, PhD, attending physician in the division of allergy and immunology at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told Healio.
Hill and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study of 27,423 children aged 1 through 16 years in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Care Network who received a PCR test during the first year of the pandemic. Their methodology “was only possible because of the pandemic itself,” according to Hill.
“Early in the pandemic, we had a good test for SARS-CoV-2 infection (the PCR test) and we were performing that test on a lot of kids,” Hill said. “Some of these kids had SARS-CoV-2, but others did not. By comparing the rates of asthma development in these two populations, we were well positioned to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with asthma development.”
According to their findings, positive tests were not associated with new asthma diagnoses during an 18-month follow-up period. Specifically, PCR positivity had no significant effect on the hazard of new asthma diagnosis (HR = 0.96; 95% CI, 0.73–1.27), although factors such as Black race (HR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.13–1.95), food allergy (HR = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.03–1.55) and allergic rhinitis (HR = 2.3; 95% CI, 1.93–2.74) significantly increased the risk for a new asthma diagnosis.
Among children aged younger than 5 years, preterm birth (HR = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.13–1.93) and BMI (HR = 1.13; 95% CI, 1.07–1.19) increased the risk for a new diagnosis as well.
“There is considerable evidence that viral respiratory infections other than SARS-CoV-2 increase risk of asthma development,” Hill said. “As such, we expected to see a similar association with SARS-CoV-2. I would say that the major conclusion of the study — that SARS-CoV-2 infection is not associated with asthma— was a welcome surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.”
Hill said the findings should help primary care providers and pediatricians reassure patients and their families.
“I’m hopeful that this study will lead to one less thing to worry about when it comes to trying to raise healthy and happy children,” Hill said. “This is reassuring, as it strengthens our ability to say that there is likely not an association between SARS-CoV-2 and asthma in kids.”
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