— Research study by CHOP scientists has ramifications for those seeking to comprehend the drivers of asthma exacerbations–
PHILADELPHIA, June 15, 2020/ PRNewswire/– The number of clients visiting the emergency department (ED) for asthma treatment stopped by 76%in the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a brand-new study by scientists at Children’s Health center of Philadelphia(CHOP). The proportion of ED visits that caused a client being hospitalized also decreased over this period, suggesting the decrease in total sees was not entirely due to patients avoiding the health center due to the pandemic or delays in care for less severe asthma occasions.
” We were amazed by the magnitude and degree of the decreased utilization of emergency situation services for asthma during the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated Chén C. Kenyon, MD, MSHP, a pediatrician in CHOP’s Department of General Pediatrics and first author of the research study, which was published in JACI in Practice “The trend was especially striking considered that the introduction of COVID-19 in the Northeastern United States took place during the spring, when respiratory viruses and high-pollen counts can assemble and worsen asthma symptoms.”
CHOP sees nearly 6,000 asthma clients in its ED every year, more than 2,000 of whom require hospitalization. To evaluate the impact of the pandemic on ED use for asthma treatment, the researchers drawn out information on visits to CHOP’s ED for asthma care during the first four months of2020 They compared that data to the typical variety of ED gos to throughout the very same 4 months of 2016 through2019 They also compared the mean day-to-day asthma ED sees from January 1 to March 18, 2020, prior to mandated social distancing measures entered into effect, to the mean number of visits from March 19 to April 18, 2020
The research group discovered that in the pre-pandemic period, approximately 24 clients checked out the ED for asthma treatment each day, a numb