States with the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates have seen more pediatric asthma patients based on their symptoms, according to new studies published in JAMA Network Open through leaders at Nemours Children’s Health and Endeavor Health.
“Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases among children in the United States, with approximately 4. 7 million children experiencing symptoms each year,” said leader Matthew M. Davis, MD. Array MAPP, Executive Vice President, Physician-Entrepreneur In-Chief and Chief Scientific Officer, Nemours Children’s Health.
“Whether asthma is mild or severe, it affects the quality of life of young people. So anything we can do to help children with flare-ups is beneficial.
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, social distancing and school closures are believed to have reduced asthma attacks in many pediatric patients. Davis and co-author Lakshmi Halasyamani, MD, chief clinical officer at Endeavor Health in Evanston, Illinois, wondered whether these benefits would increase in 2021, when the first COVID-19 vaccines are widely administered to adults and then to children.
In the study, Drs. Davis and Halasyamani replaced parent-reported asthma symptoms between 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 in the formative years. They combined this data with states’ COVID-19 vaccination rates for people ages five and older in 2020-2021, as reported by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The researchers found that for every 10 percentage points cumulative in COVID-19 vaccination coverage, asthma symptoms in parent-reported formative years decreased by 0. 36 percentage points.
States in the fourth-highest overall COVID-19 vaccination rates experienced a 1. 7 percentage point reduction in asthma symptoms, nearly three times more favorable than states in the lowest quarter of overall COVID-19 vaccination rates, which experienced an average reduction in asthma symptoms. from only 0. 6 percentage emissions in 2020/2021, to 2018/2019.
The co-authors explained that several points may also have contributed to the relief of asthma symptoms. Community-level immunity, also known as “herd immunity,” in states with higher vaccination rates would likely have helped lower the risk of young people contracting COVID. -19 and future complications of asthma. Another option is that young people living in states with higher COVID-19 vaccination rates likely would have been more likely to get vaccinated some time after vaccines were approved for their age group.
According to the co-authors, these findings also raise the option that COVID-19 vaccines could combat other ailments caused by coronaviruses, including the common cold.
“Continued vaccination against COVID-19 could offer direct benefits to children with a history of asthma, but this needs to be demonstrated through further research,” Dr. Halasyamani said. “It also raises the question of whether population-wide COVID-19 vaccination in children and adults can also help children with asthma. “
The co-authors noted that one of the limitations of the study is that it did not measure vaccination rates, particularly in children with asthma. Additionally, while parent-reported knowledge is a significant measure of patient experience, additional insights such as hospital remains or emergency room visits can simply be used to determine those outcomes.
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