ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic had a great effect on the lives of asthmatic children. In this study we assessed changes in medication adherence and asthma control rate among our registered children with pediatric asthma.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 113 patients registered in our asthma and allergy clinic in Mashhad, Iran. We called them via phone and completed a questionnaire on the level of asthma medication adherence and the asthma control test (ACT) before and in the 6 months after COVID-19 emergence. We investigated the changes in medication adherence and asthma control due to COVID-19 pandemic.Results: A total of 113 asthmatic children in the age range of 1 to 15 (mean, 7.02 +/- 3.24 years) were included in the study. There were zero confirmed positive cases among them since COVID-19 introduction. The minority of patients (8.8%) had weak adherence, most of the children (35.4%) completed one course of prescribed medications, 33% had longer adherence, and only 25 patients (22.1%) had full adherence during the pandemic. Overall, our patients experienced better asthma control with a 1.51 rise in ACT score to arrive in 23.64 points out of 25. They had no asthma exacerbation and emergency visit. Over half of the families compiled the national preventive measures;as 85% of children had followed the stay-at-home order during the first peak of the pandemic.Conclusion: Our patients managed to come to a higher asthma control level despite their generally decreased adherence to medications during the pandemic. COVID-19 not only could not worsen asthma status in our children but surprisingly improved it. This shows that the preventive measures should be strongly applied for the asthmatic population.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: COVID-19, a novel coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), is currently regarded as the most serious viral disease. During corona infection, viruses bind to host proteins and employ a variety of cellular pathways for their own purposes. Cell signaling is important for the regulation of cellular function. SARS-CoV-2 infection alters multiple signal transduction pathways that are critical for cell survival. The virus causes a severe and prolonged period of hypercytokinemia with misusing of these signaling cascades. Hyperactivation of the host immune system after infection with SARS-CoV-2 is the main cause of death in COVID-19 patients. Thus, to develop effective therapeutic approaches, it is necessary to first understand the problem and the underlying molecular pathways implicated in host immunological function/dysfunction. A number of intracellular signaling cascades have been implicated in infected cell pathways, including MAPK pathway, NF-κB pathway, JAK–STAT signaling pathway, PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and TLRI signaling cascades. Here, we have presented the molecular insights on the potential mechanisms involved in immunopathological events of COVID-19.