Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

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MDPI, Applied Sciences, 19(12), p. 9460, 2022

DOI: 10.3390/app12199460

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Adult Asthma Management in the Emergency Department during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Expert Opinion Survey

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Adult patients with asthma often access the emergency department (ED) for the management of exacerbations or uncontrolled symptoms. Sometimes the first diagnosis of asthma occurs right in the ED. In the last couple of years, the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, causing an acute respiratory syndrome named SARS-CoV-2, characterized mainly by respiratory symptoms, such as cough and shortness of breath, in addition to fever. This clinical pattern partially overlaps with that caused by asthma, thus generating confusion in terms of diagnosis and management. It is also unclear whether asthma may be associated with a worse prognosis in COVID-19 infection. This expert opinion paper provides specific recommendations to ease the challenges related to adult patients with asthma admitted to the ED during the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular reference to diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, it provides well-defined indications to guide decisions on discharge, hospital admission, as well as follow-up. A panel of experts composed of emergency medicine physicians, pulmonologists and allergologists discussed, voted and approved all the recommendations.