COVID-19 Roundup: Asthma in Children, Timing of Vaccination, Mortality, Requirements

Poorly Controlled Asthma in Children¹

Children and adolescents with poorly controlled asthma are 3 to 6 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 when compared with individuals without asthma, according to the results of a recent study.

Included in the study were 752,867 children in Scotland aged 5 to 17 years. Poorly controlled asthma is defined here as requiring hospitalization and the prescription of 2 or more courses of oral steroids within the past 2 years.

Of the 63,463 children diagnosed with asthma, 4339 (6.8%) were infected with COVID-19, 67 (1.5%) required hospitalization, and 9 required admission to an intensive care unit or resulted in death. When compared with children without asthma, 40,231 (5.8%) were infected with COVID-19 and 382 (0.9%) required hospitalization.

 The results indicated that children who were recently admitted to the hospital with asthma were 6 times more likely to be admitted with COVID-19 than those without asthma. Children who were recently prescribed oral steroids had a 3 times higher risk of hospital admission.

Antibody Levels and Timing of Vaccination²

A longer time interval between COVID-19 vaccine doses may produce a higher antibody response than the standard 3- to 4-week dosing schedule.

The researchers utilized data from 186 participants in the Occupational Risks, Seroprevalence and Immunity among Paramedics (CORSIP) cohort in Canada. All participants were vaccinated against COVID-19 with either the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines on 1 of 2 schedules; the short interval of 17 to 28 days between doses that is currently recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the long internal of 42 to 49 days between doses.

“A SARS-CoV-2 vaccine dosing interval of 6 to 7 weeks compared with a standard dosing interval (>4 weeks) resulted in higher anti-spike antibodies detected in the blood of vaccinated individuals,” the researchers concluded. “These data may inform ongoing international COVID-19 vaccination efforts.”

New COVID-19 Requirements³

President Biden is now requiring all private health insurance companies to cover the cost of over-the-counter COVID-19 tests for their customers, and requires all insurers to provide 50 million free tests for the uninsured at health care clinics.

Individuals will be reimbursed for their at-home tests beginning in January. Health insurance companies are anticipated to cover the cost of testing without government aid. Additional free testing will be available to those without private insurance as soon as this month.

Additionally, all international travelers arriving to the United States must be tested for COVID-19 within 1 day of departure, regardless of vaccination status. Mask requirements on public transportation, airplanes, and trains has been extended to March 18.

12-Month Mortality Risk⁴

Adults with severe COVID-19 are at a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality when compared with individuals with mild COVID-19 and those without COVID-19.

To examine the relationship between post-acute sequalae and mortality risk, the researchers examined the electronic health records of 13,638 patients at 1 health system for 12 months. Severe COVID-19 was defined as being hospitalized within the first 30 days following of a positive polymerase chain reaction test.

Of the total patients included in the study, 178 had severe COVID-19, 246 had mild or moderate COVID-19, and 13,214 were negative. There were a total of 2686 deaths within the 12-month study period. The results also indicated that 79.5% of deaths were for causes other than respiratory or cardiovascular conditions.

—Leigh Precopio