TY - JOUR T1 - The impact of the first COVID-19 surge on severe asthma patients in the UK. Which is worse: the virus or the lockdown? JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00768-2020 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 00768-2020 AU - Steven J. Smith AU - John Busby AU - Liam G. Heaney AU - Paul E. Pfeffer AU - David J. Jackson AU - Freda Yang AU - Stephen J. Fowler AU - Andrew Menzies-Gow AU - Elfatih Idris AU - Thomas Brown AU - Robin Gore AU - Shoaib Faruqi AU - Paddy Dennison AU - James W. Dodd AU - Simon Doe AU - Adel H. Mansur AU - Radhika Priyadarshi AU - Joshua Holmes AU - Andrew Hearn AU - Hamsa Al-Aqqad AU - Lola Loewenthal AU - Angela Cooper AU - Lauren Fox AU - Mayurun Selvan AU - Michael G. Crooks AU - Alison Thompson AU - Daniel Higbee AU - Michelle Fawdon AU - Vishal Nathwani AU - LeanneJo Holmes AU - Rekha Chaudhuri A2 - , Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/7/1/00768-2020.abstract N2 - Respiratory viral infections are a significant cause of morbidity in asthma [1]. Patients with severe asthma were assumed to be at greater risk from novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple countries enacted social containment policies. In the UK a countrywide lockdown occurred in March 2020, with stringent self-isolation (“shielding”) advice for high-risk patients, including people with severe asthma.Asthma therapy, including monoclonal antibodies, was not associated with #COVID19 infection or hospitalisation in a UK severe asthma population. Shielding led to a reported worsening of mental health in nearly half of patients contacted (47%). https://bit.ly/3jImUsG ER -