Characteristics of severe asthma patients according to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status, disease severity and confirmed COVID-19
| Characteristic | Subjects | COVID-19 status | COVID-19 disease severity | Confirmed COVID-19 | |||||
| No COVID-19 | Suspected or confirmed COVID-19 | p-value | Nonhospitalised | Hospitalised | p-value | Confirmed COVID-19 | p-value# | ||
| Subjects | 1268 | 97 | 84 | 13 | 19 | ||||
| Age years | 1365 | 52.8±15.5 | 51.2±13.8 | 0.313 | 50.5±13.8 | 55.6±13.7 | 0.215 | 49.8±13.7 | 0.404 |
| Male sex | 1365 | 453 (35.7%) | 43 (44.3%) | 0.089 | 39 (46.4%) | 4 (30.8%) | 0.290 | 5 (26.3%) | 0.395 |
| BMI kg·m−2 | 1166 | 31.0±7.2 | 31.3±6.1 | 0.704 | 31.3±6.3 | 31.3±4.9 | 0.967 | 30.6±6.3 | 0.849 |
| Smoking status | 1322 | − | − | 0.584 | − | − | 0.739 | − | 0.522 |
| Never-smoker | 1322 | 838 (68.4%) | 69 (71.9%) | − | 59 (71.1%) | 10 (76.9%) | − | 15 (78.9%) | − |
| Ex-smoker | 1322 | 337 (27.5%) | 22 (22.9%) | − | 20 (24.1%) | 2 (15.4%) | − | 3 (15.8%) | − |
| Current smoker | 1322 | 51 (4.2%) | 5 (5.2%) | − | 4 (4.8%) | 1 (7.7%) | − | 1 (5.3%) | − |
| Non-Caucasian ethnicity | 1345 | 150 (12.0%) | 18 (18.8%) | 0.054 | 15 (17.9%) | 3 (25.0%) | 0.553 | 3 (16.7%) | 0.547 |
| Resident in London area | 1365 | 306 (24.1%) | 44 (45.4%) | <0.001 | 39 (46.4%) | 5 (38.5%) | 0.591 | 11 (57.9%) | <0.001 |
| Resident outside London area (rest of UK) | 1365 | 962 (75.9%) | 53 (54.5%) | − | 45 (53.6%) | 8 (61.8%) | − | 8 (42.1%) | − |
| Atopic disease | 1236 | 662 (57.8%) | 58 (64.4%) | 0.216 | 48 (62.3%) | 10 (76.9%) | 0.310 | 11 (57.9%) | 0.991 |
| Depression or anxiety | 1365 | 126 (9.9%) | 9 (9.3%) | 0.834 | 9 (10.7%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.215 | 0 (0.0%) | 0.148 |
| Clinic FEV1¶ % predicted | 1113 | 68.1 (52.9–82.6) | 67.9 (59.9–83.4) | 0.343 | 67.9 (59.9–82.8) | 73.7 (60.1–84.8) | 0.555 | 80.8 (60.7–86.2) | 0.141 |
| Clinic FVC¶ % predicted | 1081 | 83.6 (71.8–95.4) | 82.8 (71.3–92.6) | 0.779 | 83.1 (71.3–91.7) | 81.2 (68.9–92.6) | 0.814 | 87.3 (76.7–93.9) | 0.558 |
| Asthma medication and control | |||||||||
| ICS dose¶ BDP equivalent µg | 1174 | 2000 (1600–2000) | 2000 (1600–2000) | 0.433 | 2000 (1600–2000) | 1000 (800–1600) | 0.002 | 1600 (1000–2000) | 0.106 |
| Maintenance OCS | 1363 | 481 (38.0%) | 34 (35.4%) | 0.620 | 30 (35.7%) | 4 (33.3%) | 0.872 | 9 (47.4%) | 0.402 |
| Maintenance macrolides | 1200 | 153 (13.8%) | 9 (10.2%) | 0.351 | 7 (9.9%) | 2 (16.7%) | 0.428 | 3 (16.7%) | 0.723 |
| Theophylline | 1237 | 294 (25.7%) | 12 (13.2%) | 0.008 | 10 (12.8%) | 2 (15.4%) | 0.800 | 3 (15.8%) | 0.328 |
| Evidence of poor adherence | 1190 | 248 (22.5%) | 25 (29.1%) | 0.160 | 18 (24.7%) | 7 (53.8%) | 0.033 | 6 (31.6%) | 0.346 |
| On asthma biologic | 1361 | 853 (67.5%) | 65 (67.0%) | 0.924 | 57 (67.9%) | 8 (61.5%) | 0.652 | 13 (68.4%) | 0.931 |
| Biologic type | 917 | − | − | 0.349 | − | − | 0.986 | − | 0.841 |
| Anti-IL-5+ | 917 | 680 (79.7%) | 55 (85.9%) | − | 49 (86.0%) | 6 (85.7%) | − | 11 (84.6%) | − |
| Anti-IgE | 917 | 157 (18.4%) | 9 (14.1%) | − | 8 (14.0%) | 1 (14.3%) | − | 2 (15.4%) | − |
| Anti-IL-4/13 | 917 | 16(1.9%) | 0 (0%) | − | 0 (0.0%) | 0 (0.0) | − | 0 (0.0%) | − |
| Comorbidities | |||||||||
| Cardiac disease | 1299 | 64 (5.3%) | 6 (6.3%) | 0.678 | 5 (6.1%) | 1 (7.7%) | 0.826 | 1 (5.3%) | 0.992 |
| Diabetes | 1365 | 78 (6.2%) | 5 (5.2%) | 0.692 | 5 (6.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.366 | 1 (5.3%) | 0.873 |
| Hypertension | 1365 | 121 (9.5%) | 9 (9.3%) | 0.932 | 7 (8.3%) | 2 (15.4%) | 0.415 | 2 (10.5%) | 0.885 |
| Malignancy | 1365 | 13 (1.0%) | 1 (1.0%) | 0.996 | 1 (1.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 0.693 | 0 (0.0%) | 0.657 |
| Associated COPD | 1365 | 38 (3.0%) | 5 (5.2%) | 0.241 | 4 (4.8%) | 1 (7.7%) | 0.657 | 1 (5.3%) | 0.567 |
| Shielding and asthma control during lockdown | |||||||||
| Advised to shield | 1363 | 1182 (93.2%) | 86 (90.5%) | 0.320 | 76 (90.5%) | 10 (90.9%) | 0.963 | 16 (88.9%) | 0.470 |
| Followed shielding advice | 1268 | 1058 (89.5%) | 73 (84.9%) | 0.182 | 64 (84.2%) | 9 (90.0%) | 0.631 | 13 (81.3%) | 0.286 |
| Shielding affected mental health | 1237 | 544 (47.1%) | 38 (46.9%) | 0.980 | 33 (46.5%) | 5 (50.0%) | 0.835 | 8 (53.3%) | 0.629 |
| Contracted COVID-19 before shielding advice | 76 | 0 (0.0%) | 44 (57.9%) | − | 40 (60.6%) | 4 (40.0%) | 0.219 | 8 (53.3%) | − |
| Non-shielding household | 1338 | 715 (57.3%) | 50 (54.9%) | 0.656 | 41 (51.2%) | 9 (81.8%) | 0.056 | 14 (77.8%) | 0.081 |
| Specialist asthma attendance | 1359 | 432 (34.2%) | 31 (32.6%) | 0.759 | 27 (32.1%) | 4 (36.4%) | 0.779 | 4 (22.2%) | 0.288 |
| Asthma control worse during lockdown | 1358 | 463 (36.7%) | 50 (52.6%) | 0.002 | 41 (48.8%) | 9 (81.8%) | 0.039 | 11 (61.1%) | 0.033 |
| Acute OCS course during lockdown | 1363 | 433 (34.2%) | 48 (50.0%) | 0.002 | 40 (47.6%) | 8 (66.7%) | 0.217 | 13 (68.4%) | 0.002 |
| Hospital admission with COVID-19 | |||||||||
| Admitted to hospital for COVID-19 | 97 | 0 (0.0%) | 13 (1.4%) | − | 0 (0.0%) | 13 (100%) | <0.001 | 11 (57.9%) | − |
| Oxygen therapy | 12 | 0 (0.0%) | 7 (7.2%) | − | 0 (0.0%) | 7 (58.3%) | − | 7 (36.8%) | − |
| ITU admission for COVID-19 | 12 | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (2.1%) | − | 0 (0.0%) | 2 (15.4%) | − | 1 (5.2%) | − |
| Chest radiograph suggestive of COVID-19 | 8 | 0 (0.0%) | 7 (87.5%) | − | 0 (0.0%) | 7 (87.5%) | − | 7 (87.5%) | − |
| Days in hospital¶ | 9 | − | 11 (5, 22) | − | − | 11 (5,22) | − | 11 (5,22) | − |
Data are presented as n, mean±sd, n (%) or median (interquartile range), unless otherwise stated. BMI: body mass index; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC: forced vital capacity; ICS: inhaled corticosteroids; BDP: budesonide dipropionate; OCS: oral corticosteroids; IL: interleukin; ITU: intensive therapy unit; −: no data to present. #: for confirmed COVID-19 versus no COVID-19; ¶: data collected at registry entry; +: mepolizumab, benralizumab and reslizumab. Bold indicates statistical significance.