Maintenance of Medical Care of Children and Adolescents With Asthma During the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Pandemic: An Opinion

The clinical picture of asthma is gaining increasing global attention [1]. Considerable effort is being put into understanding the underlying mechanisms and causes of asthma [2, 3]. Prevention concepts and disease education are some areas receiving increased attention from patients and caregivers in order to catch complications earlier [4, 5]. Indeed, the main goal should be that the patient becomes experienced about his/her disease [5]. However, it is not only in medically underserved regions where children and adolescents can succumb to asthma complications. Here, for example, the case of a 9-year-old girl, Ella Kissi-Debrah, from the United Kingdom, where the court recently ruled that environmental pollution levels in the region of Ella's home were far above the norm and led to her death should not fade into oblivion [6]. She suffered from several asthma attacks before her death. Asthma schooling/patient education are important concepts that can lead to better disease awareness and understanding. In Germany, such asthma training concepts (“Asthmaschulung”) exist for appropriate age groups, in which children and parents are taught in small groups using practical and playful exercises [7]. Themes including understanding the disease, exercises for the early recognition of urgent situations, and the correct use of medications and inhalation techniques, as well as other thematically relevant contents, are the main topics [7]. Such education measures increase the self-confidence of affected patients in dealing with the disease, meaning doctor’s visits may also become less necessary [8]. Unfortunately, the current SARS-CoV-2-/COVID-19-pandemic has not only led to corresponding lockdowns in different areas of society, but has also affected the implementation of asthma education. Virtual training can be complementary to other treatments, and some associations offer training, such as self-education programs, through close-meshed testing [9]. Parents who were involved in these education programs showed better asthma control with their affected children. Importantly, the United Nations has set auspicious goals for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [10]. Here, important notes on asthma prevention and control are given, which should be taken into serious consideration in asthma care.

Statements

Summary

Keywords

public health, pandemic, healthcare, asthma, patient education

Citation

Aydin M (2022) Maintenance of Medical Care of Children and Adolescents With Asthma During the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Pandemic: An Opinion. Int J Public Health 67:1604849. doi: 10.3389/ijph.2022.1604849

Received

17 February 2022

Accepted

27 April 2022

Published

31 May 2022

Volume

67 - 2022

Edited by

Gabriel Gulis, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

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Copyright

© 2022 Aydin.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Malik Aydin, malik.aydin@uni-wh.de

This Commentary is part of the IJPH Special Issue “Public Health and Primary Care, is 1+1=1?”

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