POST-COVID CHANGES IN CLINICAL AND LABORATORY PARAMETERS AND THEIR INTERRELATIONSHIPS IN CHILDREN WITH BRONCHIAL ASTHMA

Abstract

Relevance. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the clinical course of many chronic pathologies. Despite the relatively mild course of infection in most children, in the post-COVID period patients with bronchial asthma increasingly present with persistent functional impairments, immune imbalances, and biochemical shifts that can affect disease severity, frequency of exacerbations, and the effectiveness of basic therapy. Objective: to identify the clinical and laboratory features and their correlations in children with bronchial asthma during the post-COVID period. Materials and Methods. To comprehensively study the immune status of children suffering from bronchial asthma (BA) who had previously contracted COVID-19, a clinical and laboratory study was conducted, covering 135 children aged 7 to 15 years. All patients were under observation in pediatric inpatient and outpatient settings. Results and Discussion. A moderate correlation was found between the duration of wheezing and serum potassium (K⁺) levels (r = +0.57), while the relationship with calcium (Ca²⁺) was weak (r = –0.37). The annual frequency of exacerbations correlated negatively with Ca²⁺ (r = –0.42), but showed a strong positive correlation with K⁺ (r = +0.80) and phosphorus (P) (r = +0.71). These findings indicate that clinical manifestations of BA are directly associated with microelements such as potassium and phosphorus, which may aggravate the disease course. Conclusion. The identified changes in microelement levels confirm their importance in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma, especially in the context of viral infection, and they may be considered as additional markers of disease severity and therapeutic effectiveness.