Emotionally stressful experiences, like the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship, may make asthma more difficult to deal with. Researchers from University of California San Francisco, USA, the studied 189 adults with asthma and found that those who'd gone through more negative events in the last year tended to have poorer asthma-related quality of life - including more asthma symptoms, poorer emotional well-being and more worries over their health. The relationship was particularly strong among asthmatics with lower incomes. The researchers used standard questionnaires to measure major negative events in participants' lives and their asthma-related quality of life. They also measured their lung function and blood levels of cotinine, which signifies a person's exposure to tobacco smoke. Negative life events - from the death of a family member to divorce to the loss of a home - are indicative of long-term stress, which can take a toll on physical health. For asthma sufferers, the stress may make them perceive their condition as worse than before, or it may actually worsen their symptoms. Negative life events could magnify a person's perception of how asthma affects one's life, but the mechanism could also be through a true worsening of health status. Overall, the study found, asthma-related quality of life declined as the number of recent stressful events climbed. Study participants with relatively lower incomes seemed particularly vulnerable to these life stressors. While life's negative experiences may not be preventable, healthcare providers should be aware that they can take a toll on patients' health. Doctors need to take the whole person into account. Helping patients deal with stress is important in managing asthma, as well as other chronic diseases.
Thorax,
February 2007
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