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Background: Spain has been severely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, with 195,944 persons infected and 20,453 deaths at the time of writing. Older people with respiratory or cardiac conditions are most at risk. Objective: The aim was to compare respiratory symptoms in nursing home residents and patients with uncontrolled asthma, who are considered vulnerable to COVID-19. Methods: We studied 134 nursing home residents and 139 patients with uncontrolled asthma, groups vulnerable to COVID-19. Demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, outcomes, key laboratory results, and radiological images were collected from medical records. COVID-19 infection was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: Thirteen (9.3%) patients with uncontrolled asthma, all receiving inhaled corticosteroids were infected by COVID-19. Eighty (60%) nursing home residents were infected; only 28, all of whom had received inhaled corticosteroids, had a good prognosis. Conclusions: Early treatment with inhaled corticosteroids may be helpful in COVID-19 infection. Persons with an allergy might have some protective mechanisms against coronavirus.

La limitación del esfuerzo terapéutico (LET) es un término médico que no está exento de polémica. Algunos autores defienden que la limitación es una expresión que podría considerarse peyorativa y creen que sería más apropiado hablar de “ajuste”, para evitar connotaciones “negativas” con respecto a la atención al paciente. No se trata de “dejar de actuar”, sino de adoptar una actitud proactiva que incluye agregar o modificar medidas de acuerdo con los objetivos terapéuticos del momento. Hoy en día, el termino LET está totalmente aceptado. Su uso es muy frecuente en el campo de la Medicina Interna y se considera un estándar de calidad.