N , total number of qualified subjects for evaluation; n(%), frequency (percentage of frequency); 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.

Asthma control, self-management and medical visits during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic (January 25, 2020 to April 25, 2020), the majority (74.2%, 132/178) of the patients felt that their symptoms had not changed as compared with usual times, while 18.0% (32/178) felt better, and 7.9% (14/178) felt worse. The mean ACT score of the 178 patients was 22.76 ± 3.06 (ranging from 8 to 25) in the last 4 weeks before the survey. According to the criteria of ACT scoring from GINA, asthma was well-controlled in 89.3% of the patients, not well-controlled in 6.2%, and very poorly controlled in 4.5%,
During these period, only 24.7% (44/178) of patients had ever visited a hospital or clinic for asthma, of whom 11 patients had 2 visits, and 6 had ≥3 visits, totaling 74 visits. 14.9% (11/74) of all medical visits were due to exacerbation of asthma, i.e., aggravation of wheezing, chest tightness, and/or coughing, while the remaining visits (63/74, 85.1%) were for regular prescription of asthma medications. Only 6 patients (3.4%) had consultation online.
Notably, 25.6% (45/176) of the patients experienced aggravation of asthma symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, but 75.6% (34/45) of them did not see a doctor, because 67.6% (23/34) of the patients thought that they did not need to go to the hospital and took more medications by themselves, and the remaining 32.4% (11/34) worried about cross-infection of COVID-19 in the hospital. No patient said that they did not see a doctor because they could not arrange an appointment.11patients went to the hospital due to aggravation, 81.8% (9/11) of them to the outpatient department, while only 18.2% (2/11) to the ED. (Table 3)
Table 3. Asthma control and management during the COVID-19 pandemic