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The combo of Asthma and Covid-19 is becoming a nightmare for millions of people

Many people who are suffering from asthma keep wondering if they are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 or developing more severe respiratory complications from the disease once infected. The number of people who are suffering from asthma in the United States is more than 25 million and counting that accounts for almost 8% of the total population, and many of them are using a combo of inhaled beta-agonists that gives you immediate relief and inhaled corticosteroids also called ICS, for long-term conditioning of the lung, as primary treatment for asthma. If you are o=the one suffering from asthma then you must look for the best option, one of the most widely used products that are the Flovent inhaler.

How are these treatments influencing the risks during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Many types of research have been done related to this possible medical condition that suggested that there is a lower prevalence of asthma in patients with COVID-19. Nonetheless, the sum of evidence from this commentary and elsewhere is insufficient to say asthma is protective.

When there is an absence of evidence, as we saw with hypertension as a risk factor and hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, the tendency of journalists is to obtain a quote from a physician. People who give any quotes which state something like "we are not sure" or "there is an absence of enough evidence to comment anything right now" never gets published most of the time, when in fact anecdotal speculation is always intriguing but often misleading.

An extensive problem in sorting out asthma as an independent risk factor is that most of the publications are lumping all "chronic respiratory diseases" together, which puts asthma in the same pool with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe lung disease like pulmonary fibrosis. There are surprising differences in the demographics and diagnosis of these diseases. For instance, patients with COPD are generally of old age and much more likely to be smokers, which plays an important role in the risk of contracting Covid-19.

Inhaled Corticosteroids and COVID-19

The possibility of the situation like inhaled corticosteroids might prevent (at least partly) the development of symptomatic infection or severe presentation of COVID-19 cannot be ignored. They cited some very preliminary data to support this contention, writing that in-vitro models, inhaled corticosteroids alone or in combination with bronchodilators have been shown to suppress coronavirus replication and cytokine production.

Is it evident that the usage of ICS increase or lower the risk of COVID-19 infection?

There are several studies that show that gradually, ICS could influence COVID-19, either increasing or decreasing the risk of

· Initial infection

· Progression to pneumonia

· Progression to severe respiratory distress syndrome that can result in death.

There are several theoretical statements by many researchers that suggest the use of ICS could either improve or worsen all three stages. The review of 59 publications on COVID-19 concluded that after examination of the full texts including translations of those in Chinese, no publications were identified as having data about any studies related to this.

The bottom line right now is that we don't know if the usage of ICS is a vital risk factor in COVID-19 infection. So, keep Flovent inhaler accessible for you always.