Publication date: Jun 27, 2026
Incident asthma is an important respiratory sequela after COVID-19, but it is unclear which allergic phenotypes amplify risk. Using a linked nationwide Korean database of 3,987,182 individuals with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, we compare claims-based incident asthma in those with pre-existing systemic atopy and/or upper-airway disease (allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, atopic dermatitis or food allergy) versus those without after 1:1 propensity score matching. During follow-up to 31 December 2022, participants with pre-existing disease have higher asthma incidence than matched controls (3. 55 vs 2. 13 per 1,000 person-years), with a hazard ratio of 1. 66 (95% confidence interval 1. 58-1. 75). Asthma risk is elevated for each condition and increases with greater disease burden. These findings show that pre-existing allergic and upper-airway phenotypes stratify post-COVID incident asthma risk on a national scale, supporting targeted surveillance in high-risk subgroups.
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| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Allergy | Airway |
| Coronavirus | Allergic |
| Korean | Asthma |
| Rhinosinusitis | Atopy |
| Covid | |
| Define | |
| Existing | |
| Incident | |
| Phenotypes | |
| Pre | |
| Respiratory | |
| Risk | |
| Susceptibility | |
| Systemic | |
| Upper |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | asthma |
| pathway | KEGG | Asthma |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | allergic rhinitis |
| disease | MESH | rhinosinusitis |
| disease | MESH | atopic dermatitis |
| disease | MESH | food allergy |
| pathway | REACTOME | Reproduction |
| disease | MESH | included |
| disease | MESH | Allergy |
| disease | MESH | severe acute respiratory syndrome |
| disease | MESH | coronavirus infection |
| disease | MESH | respiratory diseases |
| disease | MESH | nasal polyps |
| disease | MESH | hypertension |
| disease | MESH | dyslipidemia |
| disease | MESH | diabetes mellitus |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Isoxaflutole |
| disease | MESH | infection |