Public health measures taken in 2020 and 2021 to protect the population from COVID-19 had the side effect of halving emergency room visits for children with asthma, researchers in Montreal found.
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To arrive at this result, the researchers compiled all admissions of children for asthma cases at Sainte-Justine Hospital and Children’s General Hospital between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2021. They have accumulated 22,746 visits, of which only 3,338 were from April 1, 2020, at the start of the pandemic.
Using this data, they found that the number of asthma admissions at these two hospitals fell by 47% during the first and fourth quarters of the pandemic.
In the eyes of scientists, several factors can explain this change, the first of which is social distancing.
“Public health measures have likely reduced transmission of other respiratory viruses that are common triggers of asthma attacks,” the study, published by the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, said.
“In addition, reduced exposure to air pollution, a trigger for asthma attacks, may also have contributed to the decrease in the number of asthma attacks,” the authors continued, noting that pollution levels in particular had decreased by 10% in Montreal between March and April 2020 , when the lives of many citizens were put on hold by the government and teleworking was widespread.
The researchers also believe that to avoid the risk of ending up in the emergency room in the middle of a pandemic, families may have been more respectful of medication protocols for their children with asthma.
Society would benefit from learning from the measures being implemented to better protect asthmatic children, the researchers believe.
“Although some measures were exceptional (like closing schools), others are easily implemented and are socially acceptable, like wearing a mask in public spaces when someone is symptomatic to limit transmission of respiratory viruses. This could lead to a reduction in the number of asthma attacks,” the research authors concluded.