The phrase "issue was exacerbated" is correct and can be used in written English.
You would typically use this phrase in the context of a problem or difficulty that is intensifying or becoming worse due to underlying factors. For example, "The issue of poverty in the city was exacerbated by the economic recession."
Both sides said the issue was exacerbated by social media.
The issue was exacerbated by another blow-out for Nico Rosberg in Friday practice that was blamed on an external cut.
That control issue was exacerbated by companies who were required by law (or preferred to) store their data outside of the United States.
The G.O.O.D. Music president pointed to her promise to curb mass incarceration, although many say that issue was exacerbated by her husband's signing of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the "three strikes" provision that came with it.
The issue is exacerbated when the media get in touch and want to hear your views on what is happening in education and in the local area.
The issue is exacerbated further by a faulty national health insurance plan that doesn't allow patients to afford medical services.
This issue is exacerbated in new reactor designs that use liquid metals, such as for example a molten lead-bismuth eutectic, as coolant.
The issue is exacerbated by a number of governments blocking any moves to replacing commodity assistance – food in particular – with cash.
This fundamental issue is exacerbated by practical challenges with the limited number of patient samples that are available from patients on clinical trials for new therapies.
That latter issue is exacerbated by the fact that most of the narrative is written in a flat present tense, which becomes especially problematic when this present trips over perfect and pluperfects in flashbacks.
In the era of cloud computing, this compliance management issue is exacerbated by the distributed nature of the system and by the limited control that customers have on the services.
