Ayaz Khan Mohammad, Rajkumar Rajendram, Basma Al-Ghamdi, Emad Al-Jahdaly, Abdullah Al-Harbi, Hajar Hayyan, Mohammad Obaidi Mostafa, Al-Jahdali Hamdan
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ann Thorac Med. 2021 Oct-Dec;16(4):354-360. doi: 10.4103/atm.atm_559_20. Epub 2021 Oct 26.
The curfews and lockdowns imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic may decreased the volume of traffic and reduced air pollution. In addition, social distancing measures may contribute to reducing infection and asthma exacerbation.
The objective of this study was to assess asthma control and asthma medication use among severe asthmatics on biologics before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a cross-sectional survey study of patients with severe asthma receiving biologic therapy at King Abdulaziz Medical City-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We looked at the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on this cohort of severe asthmatics on biologic therapy from March till June 2020 over a period of 12 weeks. We investigated changes in patients' symptoms and asthma control using the asthma control test (ACT) score and other parameters including emergency department visits, hospitalizations, use of oral prednisolone, changes in inhaler therapy, frequency of bronchodilator use, and patient perception of their symptoms before and after the lockdown period.
A total of 56, Female 39 (69%), mean age ± SD 47.4 ± 13.8 years. The duration of bronchial asthma since diagnosis ranged from 4 to 30 years. Most patients had been treated with omalizumab (47, 84%); the rest received mepolizumab (7, 12.5%) and dupilumab (2, 3.6%). All these patients had been on biologic therapy for 5 months, ranging from 5 to 120 months. Most of the patients (45, 80.4%) agreed that their symptoms of asthma had improved with biologic therapy. Most of the patients felt that overall asthma symptoms are better after curfew and lockdown 28 (50%). Less use of bronchodilators postcurfew was reported in 38% of the patients. Asthma control (≥20) using ACT score was significantly higher among patients in postcurfew and lockdown period compared to precurfew period 34 (61.7%) and 23 (41%) ( = 0.001), respectively.
Asthma control was better postcurfew and lockdown. A decrease in air pollution and social distances may be a contributing factor.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间实施的宵禁和封锁可能减少了交通流量并降低了空气污染。此外，社交距离措施可能有助于减少感染和哮喘发作。
本研究的目的是评估COVID-19大流行前后接受生物制剂治疗的重度哮喘患者的哮喘控制情况和哮喘药物使用情况。
这是一项对沙特阿拉伯利雅得阿卜杜勒阿齐兹国王医疗城接受生物治疗的重度哮喘患者进行的横断面调查研究。我们观察了2020年3月至6月为期12周的COVID-19封锁对这一接受生物治疗的重度哮喘患者队列的影响。我们使用哮喘控制测试（ACT）评分以及其他参数，包括急诊就诊、住院、口服泼尼松龙的使用、吸入器治疗的变化、支气管扩张剂的使用频率以及患者在封锁期前后对其症状的感知，来调查患者症状和哮喘控制的变化。
共有56例患者，女性39例（69%），平均年龄±标准差为47.4±13.8岁。自诊断以来支气管哮喘的病程为4至30年。大多数患者接受过奥马珠单抗治疗（47例，84%）；其余患者接受美泊利单抗治疗（7例，12.5%）和度普利尤单抗治疗（2例，3.6%）。所有这些患者接受生物治疗的时间为5个月，范围为5至120个月。大多数患者（45例，80.4%）同意生物治疗使他们的哮喘症状得到了改善。大多数患者认为宵禁和封锁后总体哮喘症状有所改善，有28例（50%）。38%的患者报告宵禁后支气管扩张剂的使用减少。与宵禁前相比，使用ACT评分（≥20）的哮喘控制在宵禁和封锁期的患者中显著更高，分别为34例（61.7%）和23例（41%）（P = 0.001）。
宵禁和封锁后哮喘控制情况更好。空气污染的减少和社交距离可能是一个促成因素。
