ABSTRACT
Background: Globally there is uncertainty about the role of severe asthma on COVID-19 outcomes. In contrast to varying observations from initial studies, there is now increasing evidence suggesting that asthma is not associated with an increased risk of acquiring COVID-19 infection or subsequent complications and mortality as initially anticipated. Still, we are learning about the impact of severe asthma and its treatment and associated co-morbidities on COVID-19. Hence, we aimed to identify the risk and severity of COVID-19 disease among patients with severe asthma. Method(s): We conducted a retrospective chart review of subjects following in severe asthma clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation, from March 2020 to November 2021. COVID-19 disease was defined by having a positive RT-PCR. Result(s): We reviewed 99 patients with controlled severe asthma (Table 1), all patients were on regular moderate-high dose inhaled corticosteroids. 60 (60.6%) patients were on different biological medications. 6 (6 %) patients were on regular oral corticosteroids. Only 10 (10.1%) patients had confirmed COVID-19 disease (Table 1), none of them had a severe disease or required ICU admission or died. The presence of co-morbidities like diabetes mellitus, hypertension and obesity were similar between patients who had COVID-19 disease and those with no COVID-19 disease. Although 50% of patients with positive COVID-19 had exposure to oral steroids, 48% of the no infection group also had required oral steroids during the study period. Conclusion(s): Our data showed that patients with stable severe asthma are not at increased risk of getting COVID-19 disease;the infection rate is comparable to the national rate of 8.3%. Patients are also not at risk of severe infection, hospitalization, or death. Most of the patients who developed COVID-19 had mild disease and recovered well, moreover, COVID-19 had minimal impact on the course of asthma. This highlights the importance of continuing asthma medications during the pandemic. We did not observe the effect of co-existing co-morbidities and different treatments on the risk of COVID-19 disease. However, our results were limited by the small sample size and lack of data about suspected patients without confirmatory RT-PCR. Further studies are needed to reinforce this conclusion. (Figure Presented).