Many families were concerned about the potential long-term consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus following the COVID-19 epidemic.

It appears that a juvenile patient’s chance of developing asthma is probably not increased by a SARS-COV-2 infection, according to a study from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The journal Pediatrics published the findings today.

Asthma risk factors include early-life respiratory virus infections. Many families were worried that COVID-19 would cause their children to be diagnosed with asthma because the SARS-COV-2 virus can cause significant lung inflammation and extended respiratory symptoms in certain patients. CHOP has established a team to look into these issues in more detail.

Over four years have elapsed since the first illnesses were documented in the United States, with frequent COVID-19 testing conducted throughout the early stages of the pandemic. The conditions were ideal for a sizable retrospective cohort investigation under these circumstances.

“In the early stages of the pandemic, we were able to distinguish the impact of COVID-19 from other viruses and monitor these patients for the onset of asthma,” stated James P. Senter, MD, MPH, the first study author and an attending physician in CHOP’s Department of Pediatrics.

“We also had a built-in control group to compare asthma symptoms and determine whether COVID-19 was a critical factor because we were testing so frequently.”

More than 27,000 pediatric patients who underwent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for SARS-COV-2 between March 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021 were included in this retrospective cohort analysis. Over a period of eighteen months, patients were monitored.

According to the data, there was no discernible difference between testing positive for SARS-COV-2 and the chance of receiving a new asthma diagnosis. Nonetheless, there was a higher correlation between new SARS-COV-2 diagnoses and children who had established risk factors for developing pediatric asthma, such as race, food allergies, allergic rhinitis (or hay fever), and preterm birth.

Further research is required to analyze patients at different ages and at longer intervals in order to further demonstrate that there is no association between SARS-COV-2 and the development of asthma, as the study only focused on pediatric patients and did not include adult patients.

Many of the basic components of the original virus, which appear to lessen the allergic response generated in infected people, have persisted in contemporary versions, despite the fact that new variants have appeared since the study was conducted.

Senior study author David A. Hill, MD, PhD, an attending physician with the Division of Allergy and Immunology at CHOP, said, “This well-powered study reaffirms risk factors we know contribute to asthma development and provides clinically useful information to pediatricians and providers on the absence of risk of developing asthma as a result of COVID-19.” “We hope that this study will resolve a significant query that many of their families have been wondering about.”