RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on children with asthma in Jordan: a parental questionnaire
JF BMJ Paediatrics Open
JO BMJ Paediatrics Open
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e001136
DO 10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001136
VO 5
IS 1
A1 Montaha Al-Iede
A1 Karen Waters
A1 Shereen M Aleidi
A1 Basim Alqutawneh
A1 Hala Alnawaiseh
A1 Araek Alshraideh
A1 Sara Almaaitah
A1 Raghad Mahmoud
A1 Raya Abualsoud
A1 Arwa Kiswani
A1 Enas Al-Zayadneh
A1 Al-Motassem Yousef
YR 2021
UL http://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/5/1/e001136.abstract
AB Objective To evaluate the impact of a 10-week lockdown on children with asthma aged 4–17 years in terms of presentations to the emergency department (ED), frequency of admissions, compliance with medications and changes in pulmonary function testing results.Design and setting A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study using Google Forms to collect parents’ and caregivers’ responses after they consented to participation.Results A total of 374 parents/caregivers were contacted and 297 (79%) responded. The majority of the children were male (188 or 63%) and 49.8% were aged 7–12 years. More than half of the participants (194 or 65%) reported improved compliance with medications and spacer use. There was a significant reduction in the number of presentations to the ED from 137 to 80 and admissions to hospital from 56 to 24 during the 10-week lockdown period compared with the same time period in the previous year (p≤0.0001). Around 25% of the participants used telemedicine by phone and social media applications for communication with their treating physician and 59 (80%) described it as easy and smooth.Conclusion The national lockdown in Jordan due to the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a fall in emergency presentations and hospital admissions for acute asthma exacerbations. Parental responses indicate that fears focused around COVID-19 were associated with enhanced compliance with use preventer medications during the lockdown.Data are available upon reasonable request. This study is questionnaire-based and all data are available through the first author.