Caregiver Experiences Managing Persistent Childhood Asthma During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has adversely affected child wellness, but it is unclear whether the pandemic led to changes in home management of chronic diseases like asthma. We surveyed 93 caregivers of children with persistent asthma from 2 ongoing asthma trials to measure changes in home asthma management, stressors,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical pediatrics 2022-05, Vol.61 (4), p.313-319
Main Authors: Caveney, Brennen, Halterman, Jill S., Fagnano, Maria, Stern, Jessica, Frey, Sean M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asthma
Asthma - diagnosis
Asthma - epidemiology
Asthma - therapy
Body weight gain
Caregivers
Child
Childhood
Children
Chronic illnesses
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Health care
Health care access
Humans
Morbidity
Obesity
Pandemics
Pediatrics
Physical activity
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:COVID-19 has adversely affected child wellness, but it is unclear whether the pandemic led to changes in home management of chronic diseases like asthma. We surveyed 93 caregivers of children with persistent asthma from 2 ongoing asthma trials to measure changes in home asthma management, stressors, access to health care, and caregivers’ worry about COVID-19 affecting their child’s health. We conducted descriptive analyses, and assessed whether caregiver worry about COVID-19 was associated with asthma management, stressors, health care access, or recent symptoms. Most (80%) caregivers worried that COVID-19 would affect their child’s health, and >50% restricted their child’s physical activity to avoid asthma symptoms. We observed a dose-dependent relationship between increasing worry about COVID-19 and activity restrictions, financial hardship, difficulty obtaining asthma medications, and nocturnal asthma symptoms. These findings raise concern that children with persistent asthma may be at particular risk for weight gain and obesity-associated asthma morbidity due to the pandemic.
ISSN:0009-9228
1938-2707
DOI:10.1177/00099228211070659