COVID-19 Infection in a Group of Egyptian Children with Bronchial Asthma: A Single Center Study

Background Impact of asthma on COVID-19 severity and outcome in infants is not well investigated. Therefore, we sought to assess the presentation, severity and outcome of COVID-19 infection in a group of Egyptian asthmatic children. Patients and Methods We conducted an observational follow up study on 30 asthmatic children with probable/confirmed COVID-19, aged 6-10 years, who were enrolled consecutively from the Emergency department and Isolation Ward, Children`s Hospital, Ain Shams University, Egypt. COVID-19 clinical manifestations, severity and outcome were studied. Results The median age of the children was 9 years (IQR: 6-18 years). Out of the 30 studied patients, we had 9 boys and 21 girls. COVID-19 was asymptomatic in 2/30 (6.7%), mild in 20/30 (66.7%), and severe in 8/30 (26.7%). Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 included constitutional (22,73.3%), respiratory (21, 70%), gastrointestinal (7, 23%), cardio- vascular (5, 16.7%), and dermatological (1, 3.3%) manifestations. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-c) was diagnosed in only one patient. Chest X-ray abnormalities were found in (36.7%). The median duration of hospital stay was 10 days, Complete resolution was the final outcome of all patients. Conclusion Asthma does not represent a risk of severe COVID-19 or poor outcome and COVID-19 course, and the outcome in asthmatic children is similar to the general pediatric population. However, our study is limited by the small sample size and short duration of follow-up. Further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the exact impact of different SARS-CoV-2 variants with respect to asthma phenotypes and asthma biological treatments and allergen immunotherapies in children.