N , total number of qualified subjects for evaluation; n(%), frequency (percentage of frequency); 95% CI, 95% confidence
interval.
Asthma control, self-management and medical visits during
the COVID-19
pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic (January 25, 2020 to April 25, 2020),
the majority (74.2%, 132/178) of
the patients felt that their symptoms had not changed as compared with
usual times, while 18.0% (32/178) felt better, and 7.9% (14/178) felt
worse. The mean ACT score of the
178 patients was 22.76 ± 3.06 (ranging from 8 to 25) in the last 4 weeks
before the survey. According to the criteria of ACT scoring from GINA,
asthma was well-controlled in 89.3% of the patients, not
well-controlled in 6.2%, and very poorly controlled in 4.5%,
During these period, only 24.7% (44/178) of patients had ever visited a
hospital or clinic for asthma, of whom 11 patients had 2 visits, and 6
had ≥3 visits, totaling 74 visits. 14.9% (11/74) of all medical visits
were due to exacerbation of asthma, i.e., aggravation of wheezing, chest
tightness, and/or coughing, while the remaining visits (63/74, 85.1%)
were for regular prescription of asthma medications. Only 6 patients
(3.4%) had consultation online.
Notably, 25.6% (45/176) of the patients experienced aggravation of
asthma symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, but 75.6% (34/45) of them
did not see a doctor, because 67.6% (23/34) of the patients thought
that they did not need to go to the hospital and took more medications
by themselves, and the remaining 32.4% (11/34) worried about
cross-infection of COVID-19 in the hospital. No patient said that they
did not see a doctor because they could not arrange an
appointment.11patients went to the hospital due to aggravation, 81.8%
(9/11) of them to the outpatient department, while only 18.2% (2/11) to
the ED. (Table 3)
Table 3. Asthma control and management during the COVID-19 pandemic