The COVID-19 pandemic had an upside for lockdown babies: substantially less wheezing and bronchiolitis, according to an Italian retrospective cohort study.
One or more wheezing episode by age 30 months was observed in 44% fewer babies born while stay-at-home orders were in effect compared with of those born during the same months in 2016 and 2017 (9.4% vs 15%, P<0.001), reported researchers led by Carlo Giaquinto, MD, of the University of Padua, Italy.
Wheezing episodes occurred at a rate of 67.6 per 10,000 person-months among the lockdown group and 110.0 per 10,000 person-months in the historical group, according to the research letter published in JAMA Network Open
Bronchiolitis cases, one of the most common reasons for hospitalizations among infants, dropped drastically during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns as well, from 82.4 episodes per 10,000 person-months in the historical cohort to just 6.6 episodes per 10,000 person-months for lockdown babies.