학술논문

Adolescent Views on Asthma Severity and Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Document Type
Article
Source
Pediatric Allergy, Immunology & Pulmonology. Mar2023, Vol. 36 Issue 1, p23-28. 6p.
Subject
*ASTHMA treatment
*RELATIVE medical risk
*CONFIDENCE intervals
*MULTIPLE regression analysis
*SEVERITY of illness index
*SEX distribution
*HEALTH attitudes
*DESCRIPTIVE statistics
*RESEARCH funding
*ODDS ratio
*COVID-19 pandemic
*DISEASE management
*HEALTH self-care
*RURAL population
*ADOLESCENCE
Language
ISSN
2151-321X
Abstract
Background: Asthma and COVID-19 have overlapping symptoms. During the 2019–2022 pandemic, pediatric asthma control appears to have improved, with some researchers theorizing that that is due to changes in asthma self-management. This study examined adolescents' views regarding how the pandemic impacted their asthma severity and self-management. Differences by urbanicity, sex, and race/ethnicity were explored. Methods: We utilized baseline data from adolescents with poorly controlled asthma (n = 183) who were participating in 1 of 2 school-based clinical trials—1 in rural schools and 1 in urban schools—testing the impact of interventions to improve asthma control. Adolescents reported if they believed their asthma severity remained the same, improved, or worsened during the pandemic, and if it changed, how it changed. They also reported if and how they modified their asthma management since the pandemic. We used multinomial logistic regression and binary logistic regression to assess the relationship between demographic factors and changes in asthma severity during the pandemic, and if adolescents altered their asthma management. Results: Adolescents' mean age was 15.9 years; most lived in rural communities (65.6%) and identified as female (66.7%). About half (56.2%) self-identified as black, 13.1% as Hispanic, and 10.4% as another race/ethnicity. Most (68.4%) reported that their asthma severity remained unchanged; 26.0% reported it worsened. Nearly 30% reported they altered how they managed their asthma, with most (80%) reporting additional efforts. Compared with asthma remaining the same, females had a higher relative risk than males of reporting that their asthma worsened [adjusted relative risk ratio = 3.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34–9.90, P < 0.05]. Urban youth had greater odds (adjusted odds ratio = 5.4, 95% CI = 2.0–14.5, P < 0.001) of reporting they changed their asthma self-management compared with rural peers. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that during the 2019–2022 pandemic, adolescents generally believed their asthma severity stayed consistent and many took additional self-management efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]