COVID-19 Course in Allergic Asthma Patients: A Spanish Cohort Analysis.

PURPOSE: The acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has had a high impact on patients with chronic diseases. In the literature, there are different perspectives on asthma as comorbidity or risk factor on COVID-19 severity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The aim of this retrospective study across 13 allergy departments in Spain was to determine the severity of COVID-19 in asthmatic adults followed in allergy departments and its relationship with atopy, clinical and demographic characteristics, phenotypes and laboratory data. In addition, lung function test and asthma control test (ACT) before and after COVID-19 were analyzed. Data was obtained from electronic medical records from March 2020 to April 2021. RESULTS: Two hundred one asthmatic patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection by validated detection test. About 30% of the patients were admitted for bilateral pneumonia. Advanced age, elevated D-dimer, lower numbers of lymphocytes and eosinophils, heart diseases and hypertension were associated with severe COVID-19. Allergic and mixed allergic/eosinophilic phenotype and their biomarkers (total IgE, aeroallergens sensitizations, allergic rhinitis, and blood eosinophilia) were related to fewer hospital admissions. Poor control and lower forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) were related to worse prognosis of COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Asthmatic patients with allergic and eosinophilic phenotype have a better evolution of COVID-19 and lower risk of admissions. Older patients, cardiovascular comorbidities, AERD and eosinopenia are related to severity COVID-19.

GEMA 4.0. Spanish Guigeline on the Management of Asthma

No disponible

Development and validation of a new Spanish instrument to measure health-related quality of life in patients with allergic rhinitis: the ESPRINT questionnaire.

OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate an instrument to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) specific to patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and primarily for use in Spanish and Spanish-speaking populations. METHODS: An initial item pool was generated from literature review, focus groups with AR patients, and consultations with clinical experts. Item reduction was performed using clinimetric and psychometric approaches after administration of the item pool to 400 AR patients. The resulting instrument's internal consistency, test-retest (2-4 weeks) reliability, known groups and convergent validity, and sensitivity to change were tested in a longitudinal, observational, multicenter study in 210 AR patients who also completed the Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ). RESULTS: The new questionnaire took a mean (SD) of 7.1 (5.4) minutes to answer. Floor and ceiling effects were less than 15% on all dimensions. Cronbach's alpha values and intraclass correlation coefficient values for six of the sevendimensions and the overall score exceeded 0.70. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.01) were observed on all ESPRINT-28 dimensions and the overall score between patients with mild (mean overall score 1.97, SD 0.99), moderate (mean overall score 2.78, SD 0.88), and severe AR (mean overall score 3.89, SD 0.87). Patients with persistent AR had worse scores (P < 0.05) on all dimensions than patients with intermittent AR. Correlations between the ESPRINT-28 and the RQLQ were generally as expected. Effect sizes for score changes between the two study visits ranged from 0.96 to 1.76 for individual dimensions and the overall score. CONCLUSIONS: This new, Spanish-developed instrument to measure HRQOL in AR patients has shown good reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change. It has also proved easy to use and administer.