RESULTS
A total of 19 patients were enrolled, of whom only 15 were included in the study. Due to exclusion criteria, 4 patients were excluded: the 4 of them due to bad adherence to MAB treatment.
Patients’ responses to the questionnaire are shown in Table 1.
When analyzing patients’ responses, about their lifestyle before the pandemic, (questions 1-4), it is worth outlining that all patients had an active or normal level of activity, and lived with three or more people at home, meaning that their personal risk of being infected by SARS-Cov-2 was not only conditioned by their own public exposure, but also by the social exposure of their relatives. It can be highlighted that 86.7% of the patients studied had assisted to crowded meetings weeks before the pandemic reached Spain.
In reference to possible exposition to the disease (questions 5-6), 2 patients had a known contact with positive COVID-19 subjects. The first patient is a 14 year old boy. He had been in a social meeting, just before the beginning of the pandemic, where several people got infected. Also, his father and twin sister, with whom he lived at home, experienced symptoms, having both a positive serological test for COVID-19. His father started with symptoms at the beginning of March, having high fever, chills, body ache and loss of taste and smell. His sister, instead, started with symptoms at the beginning of April. In her case, symptoms were limited to the skin, presenting erythema, pruritus, and vesicles on acral areas. In the patient´s case, at the beginning of March, he experience a mild asthma exacerbation, which resolved in 4 days, without needing oral corticoid therapy or medical intervention, and at mid-April, he experienced abdominal pain, reflux, and diarrhea, with no fever of respiratory symptoms, which resolved in 5 days. Curiously, the serological test performed to him in June, was negative.
The second patient is a 13 year old boy, whose parents started with fever, cough, headache, and body ache at mid-March, having both a positive test for COVID-19. In the patient´s case, he started with slight fever, on the 23 of March, which he controlled with acetaminophen at home. He did not course with other symptoms, and fever resolved in 48 hours. Curiously, the serological test performed to him in June, was negative too.
Regarding suggestive COVID-19 symptoms (question 7), only 3 patients referred symptoms. Two of them had fever, and cold symptoms, and one of them had fever and asthma exacerbation. Serological test performed to the three of them were negative.
Analyzing patients’ behavior, asthma control and treatment during the pandemic (questions 10-19), most patients (86.6%) followed asthma treatment correctly, and did not change their adherence due to the pandemic (93.4%). When asked about their mood, stable mood, and anxiety, were the most relevant answers. No one had depressive mood.
In reference to the need of medical ambulatory assistance during the lockdown, 3 patients needed medical attention, corresponding with the 3 patients who referred suggestible COVID-19 symptoms. The two patients who had fever, and cold symptoms, received telephone assistance, and did not need to attend a medical center, and the one who had fever and asthma exacerbation had to attend the medical center in 3 occasions, due to persistence of symptoms.
When analyzing asthma control, only 2 patients referred not to be controlled during the pandemic, while the other 13 patients referred good asthma control.
Drawing the attention to the period of lockdown declared in Spain, from the 15 of March 2020, until the end of May, most patients did not discontinue MAB administration. In March only 4 patients did not go for MAB dose administration. In April, 3 patients, and in May, 1 patient.
During the months of June and July, serological tests were performed by using total SARS-Cov-2 antibody test, to study the real prevalence of the disease in all patients, being negative for all of them.