Abstract
With changes in personal habits (masks and handwashing) during the COVID-19 outbreak, the study analyzed the reporting of physician-diagnosed cases (incidence) of allergic diseases (asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis) using the data for years 2019 and 2020 from the Korean adolescent risk behavior web-based survey (KYRBWS-15 and 16). Altogether, 92,659 adolescents (48,443 in 2019 and 44,216 in 2020) were enrolled. The crude and adjusted odd ratios (ORs) were calculated for each disease in 2020 compared to that in 2019 using multiple logistic regression. Subgroup analyses were performed according to sex and economic status. The incidence of asthma decreased from 1.5% in 2019 to 1.0% 2020 (p < 0.001). The incidence of allergic rhinitis in 2019 and 2020 was 19.5% and 16.3%, respectively (p < 0.001). Compared with 2019, the adjusted OR (aOR) in 2020 was 0.68 (95% CI = 0.66–0.77, p value < 0.001) for asthma and 0.82 (95% CI = 0.78–0.85, p < 0.001) for allergic rhinitis. In contrast, there was no statistically significant difference between the incidence of atopic dermatitis in 2019 and that in 2020 (6.4%, vs. 6.4%, p > 0.05, respectively). Subgroup analyses results were consistent. In conclusion, there was decrease in the incidence of asthma and allergic rhinitis but not in that of atopic dermatitis from 2019 to 2020.
Highlights
We investigated the annual rate of physician-diagnosed allergic diseases listed as asthma, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis in the past 12 months according to the response to the question: ‘Have you been diagnosed with asthma/allergic rhinitis/atopic dermatitis by a doctor within last 12 months?’
Since we investigated the subjects with allergic diseases diagnosed within the past 1 year of the survey, it is highly likely that acute exacerbation of patients previously diagnosed with allergic diseases one year prior to the survey was included in addition to the subjects with the first diagnosis of allergic diseases
Reports of asthma and allergic rhinitis decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, while there was no change in reports of atopic dermatitis
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. In 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a global pandemic, and people’s lifestyle has since been dramatically changed to prevent contagious infections. The official encouragement to handwash, mask-wear, and social distance impacts the spread of COVID-19 and that of other infectious diseases and alters the lifestyle habits. The school-aged children and adolescents had a long period of homeschooling via digital devices, since schools were closed for months during the COVID pandemic under government regulations
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