Prevalence of comorbid asthma in Tunisian patients with COVID-19: clinical features and outcomes

• Published in: Journal of infection in developing countries 2023-12, Vol.17 (12), p.1706-1713
• Main Authors: Ben Rebeh, Imen, Gargouri, Marwa, Ghariani, Marwa, Kallel, Nesrine, Rouis, Sana, Marrakchi, Wafa, Chebil, Dhekra, Ben Marzoug, Riadh, Gargouri, Hela, Merzougui, Latifa, Ghorbel, Houda, Chakroun, Mohamed, Hadj Kacem, Hassen, Rebai, Ahmed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asthma; Coronaviruses; COVID-19
• ISSN: 1972-2680; 2036-6590; 1972-2680
• DOI: 10.3855/jidc.17485

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in around 1 million COVID-19 infection cases and over 29,000 deaths in Tunisia thus far. There is great variability in the prevalence of asthma among patients with COVID-19, but the impact of asthma on patients with COVID-19 is not clear. We sought to describe the clinical features of Tunisian patients with COVID-19 and to compare asthmatic and non-asthmatic patients. This retrospective study included 675 Tunisian patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19. Clinical characteristics were collected from medical records. Bivariate analyses and multivariate regression models were used to assess the associations between asthma and the risk of severe symptoms, including death/recovery. The prevalence of asthma in the sample was 14.5%. The results show that asthmatic patients with COVID-19 have significantly less severe symptoms and better outcomes than non-asthmatic patients. Asthma was not found to be associated with higher severity or worse prognosis among patients with COVID-19 in Tunisia.