A new study has revealed that people with asthma may be at a reduced risk of contracting the deadly viral disease. The findings were published in ‘The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology’ on November 24. “We observed lower COVID-19 susceptibility in patients with preexisting asthma,” the researchers wrote.
However, more study is required on the matter, the researchers were quoted as saying by ZeeNews.
The study revealed that the number of asthma patients was more in the COVID-19 negative group than in the positive group.
“Asthma was found in 153 (6.75 per cent) subjects of the COVID-19-positive group and in 3388 (9.62 per cent) subjects of the COVID-19-negative group,” the study said.
“It was also possible that asthmatics, knowing they are at risk for more severe cases of the virus, may simply take more precautions against contracting it,” one of the researchers, Eugene Merzon was quoted as saying.
The researchers noted that more study is required in this case as the research was based on “inpatient data” “The prevalence of asthma may be different in outpatient patients with COVID-19,” the report quoted researchers as saying.