Aim:

In this study, we aimed to screen potential difference between trait anxiety levels and state anxiety levels during COVID-19 pandemic in adolecents with asthma between the ages of 12-18 and to research the effect of factors like asthma control, age and sex.

Materials and Methods:

A prospective socio-demographic questionnaire, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-1 and STAI-2), and Asthma Control Test for ages 12 and over (ACT) wer eapplied to the patients between the ages of 12-18 who were diagnosed with asthma and followed up in the pediatric allergy outpatient clinic.

Results:

The mean state (STAI-1) and trait (STAI-2) anxiety scores of the participants were 47.7±6.1(35-64), 45.4±6.1 respectively. There was no relation between the STAI-1 and STAI-2 scores and age, sex, tabacco exposure, receiving regular treatment, follow-up time co-existing diseases (p>0.05). Asthma Control Test scores and STAI-1 scores were negatively correlated and STAI-1 scores were high in patients with low ACT scores (p<0.001, r=-0.394). STAI-1 score was high in uncontrolled asthma patients (p<0.01). There was no relation between STAI-2 and ACT scores (p=0.22, r= 0.130) and asthma control (p=0.47).

Conclusion:

In this study, we found that state anxiety levels are higher than trait anxiety levels during COVID-19 pandemic and also state anxiety levels of patients with poor asthma control are higher than the patients with well asthma control in adolescents between the ages of 12-18 who diagnosed with asthma. Based on the information that higher anxiety levels can trigger asthma attacks, pscho-education is thought to be essential to this individuals who are at high-risk group.

Keywords: Asthma, anxiety, COVID-19, pandemic