Objective To assess whether loss of energy and concentration difficulty are related to allergic rhinitis. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting Secondary care allergy outpatients. Participants A total of 100 patients with allergic rhinitis and 96 healthy subjects. Main Outcome Measure: Loss of energy and concentration difficulty were assessed through a survey using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Results The average BDI-II score was higher in the allergic rhinitis population than in the healthy controls (12.8 points vs 1.8 points, P < .0001), and the frequencies of loss of energy (69.0% vs 32.3%) and concentration difficulty (65.0% vs 34.4%) were higher in patients with allergic rhinitis ( P < .0001). The prevalence of depression was 0% in the control group and 38% in the case group ( P < .0001). Allergic rhinitis and depression were independently associated with loss of energy, odds ratio (OR) = 2.55, P = .005, and OR = 9.61, P = .001, respectively, and concentration difficulty (OR = 2.04, P = .033; OR = 6.19, P = .001, respectively). Conclusions This study is one of the first studies in Latin America to report an independent association of allergic rhinitis with loss of energy and concentration difficulty.
Background: It has recently been argued that asthma does not increase the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. If so, the prevalence of asthma in subjects diagnosed with COVID-19 should be lower than in the general population.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of asthma in Mexican children and adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection.Methods: A public database of the Epidemiological Surveillance System for Viral Respiratory Disease in Mexico was analyzed. Those who underwent the real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction-SARS-CoV-2 (rtRT-PCR-SARS-CoV-2) test from February 27 to June 21, 2020, were included. In addition to the prevalence of asthma, some factors associated with it were investigated.
Results: Data from 417,366 subjects were analyzed. Asthma prevalence in children, adults, and global were 3.7%, 3.3%, and 3.3%, respectively. Although the asthma prevalence was lower in SARS-CoV-2 positive over negative patients, significant differences were only found in adults (2.8% vs. 3.7% respectively; odds ratio (OR) = 0.74; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.71–0.77); but not in children (3.5% vs. 3.8%, respectively; OR = 0.91; 95%CI: 0.76–1.10). Multivariate analysis showed in younger than 18 years that girls and immunosuppression were factors associated with a decrease in the odds to develop asthma. In adults, asthma was positively associated with females, obesity, smoking, immunosuppression, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arterial hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.
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