[Asthma as a Protective Factor Against Mortality in Mexican Population with COVID-19]

SARS-CoV-2 infection associated with the presence of comorbidities increased the risk of mortality. However, the role of asthma as a predictor of mortality and severity has not been defined.

To assess the impact of asthma as a factor associated with the decrease in mortality in the Mexican population with COVID-19.

We performed a cross-sectional and secondary analysis of the database of the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Mexican Government, updated to May 2023. The analysis included the Mexican population with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 by RT-PCR.

A total of 617,367 participants were included, with a mean age of 36. Mortality was 0.9%, 0.2% required admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). The prevalence of asthma in this population was 1.9%. When performing the multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that the presence of asthma decreased the risk of mortality, with an OR of 0.57 (95% CI 0.45, 0.72; p = < 0.001). The variables of age > 60 years, smoking, arterial hypertension, Diabetes, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were factors associated with an increase in mortality. The diagnosis of asthma was not associated with mechanical ventilation or ICU admission.

The presence of asthma in patients with COVID-19 decreased the risk of mortality by 43%. The immunological context could explain the decreased risk of mortality in asthmatic patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.