The impact of asthma on mental health & wellbeing during COVID-19 lockdown

Higbee, D. H.; Nava, G.; Kwong, A. S. F.; Dodd, J. W.; Granell, R.

Abstract Introduction The global SARS CoV2 pandemic resulted in social isolation measures with unintended negative impacts, particularly on mental health. We hypothesised that people with asthma are likely to be more vulnerable to worse mental health during lockdown. Methods We examined COVID-19 surveys (completed April/May 2020), nested within two generations of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC): index-generation ALSPAC-G1 (n= 2942, mean age=28) and the parents generation ALSPAC-G0 (n=3737, mean age=59). We used Poisson and logistic regression models to estimate the effect of asthma on wellbeing, anxiety and depression, and factors related to COVID-19 and lockdown. Models were adjusted for validated pre-pandemic measures of mental health and socio-economic factors. Results Asthma was associated with a 13% increase in depression score in ALSPAC-G1 (p=0.005) and 15% increase in ALSPAC-G0 (p=0.05) compared to participants without asthma, anxiety scores increased by 14% in ALSPAC-G1 (p=0.005) and by 16% in ALSPAC-G0 (p=0.02). Asthma was associated with a similar increase of anxiety and depression scores during COVID-19 in both generations (Z test p values >0.80). Discussion People with asthma have worse mental health & wellbeing during lockdown compared to people without asthma. Although the effect of asthma on mental health is of similar magnitude between the generations, younger participants with asthma declined to lower levels of mental health despite reporting less symptoms, COVID-19 infection and self-isolation. This has important implications given repeated lockdowns. Young people with asthma should be closely monitored and supported to mitigate the impact of lockdown on their mental health.