Kids with asthma not at higher risk of COVID-19, study finds

Children and adolescents diagnosed as having asthma are at similar risk for COVID-19 infection as those without asthma, according to a study today in Pediatrics that controlled for factors tied to SARS-CoV-2 testing.The prepublication peer-reviewed study, conducted by Duke University researchers, involved retrospective review of the electronic health records of 46,900 children 5 to 17 years old in North Carolina, of whom 6,324 (13.5%) had asthma, to identify COVID-19 diagnoses from Mar 1, 2020, to Sep 30, 2021.The study period spanned the emergence and dominance of the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant but was before Omicron.A total of 10,566 (22.5%) children were tested at least once for COVID-19.

Pediatric asthma patients were more likely than those without asthma to undergo COVID-19 testing (33.0% vs 20.9%). Children of "other" racial minority groups and those with self-pay insurance were less likely to be tested for COVID-19, while those with public insurance and higher neighborhood deprivation index scores were more likely to undergo testing.A total of 1,864 children (4.0%) tested positive for COVID-19, including 350 (5.5%) with asthma and 1,514 (3.7%) without asthma.Among the 1,864 patients who tested positive for COVID-19, 34 (1.8%) were hospitalized within 30 days, 3 of whom had asthma.

Of these children, 8 (0.5%) were hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19, including 7 of 1,514 children without asthma (0.5%) and 1 of 350 with asthma (0.3%).

One child without asthma was hospitalized for treatment of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).Equal proportion of infection with, without asthmaRelative to children without asthma, those with asthma were more likely to be boys (58% vs 50%), to be Black (56% to 37%),