Face mask use during the COVID‐19 pandemic was associated with breathing difficulties in adolescent patients with asthma

Aim Face masks have been used to prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 transmission. We investigated the impact of face mask use on paediatric patients with asthma. Methods Between February 2021 and January 2022, we surveyed adolescents aged 10–17 attending the paediatric outpatien...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta Paediatrica 2023-08, Vol.112 (8), p.1740-1746
Main Authors: Moumneh, Ali, Kofoed, Poul‐Erik Lund, Vahlkvist, Signe Voss
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Asthma
Asthma - epidemiology
breathing difficulties
Child
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
dysfunctional breathing
Dyspnea
Face
face mask
Female
Humans
Male
Masks
pandemic
Pandemics - prevention & control
Pediatrics
Respiration
Respiration Disorders
Severe acute respiratory syndrome
Teenagers
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Summary:Aim Face masks have been used to prevent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 transmission. We investigated the impact of face mask use on paediatric patients with asthma. Methods Between February 2021 and January 2022, we surveyed adolescents aged 10–17 attending the paediatric outpatient clinic at the Lillebaelt Hospital, Kolding, Denmark with asthma, other breathing problems or no breathing problems. Results We recruited 408 participants (53.4% girls) with a median age of 14 years: 312 in the asthma group, 37 in the other breathing problems group and 59 in the no breathing problems group. Most participants experienced mask‐related breathing impairment. The relative risk (RR) of experiencing severe breathing problems, compared to no problems, was more than four times as high for adolescents with asthma (RR 4.6, 95% CI 1.3–16.8, p = 0.02) than adolescents with no breathing problems. More than a third (35.9%) of the asthma group experienced mild asthma and 3.9% had severe asthma. Girls experienced more mild (RR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2–3.1, p 
ISSN:0803-5253
1651-2227
DOI:10.1111/apa.16852