Psychological Factors in Asthma

Van, Macqueen, Macqueen Glenda

Description

Asthma has long been considered a condition in which psychological factors have a role. As in many illnesses, psychological variables may affect outcome in asthma via their effects on treatment adherence and symptom reporting. Emerging evidence suggests that the relation between asthma and psychological factors may be more complex than that, however. Central cognitive processes may influence not only the interpretation of asthma symptoms but also the manifestation of measurable changes in immune and physiologic markers of asthma. Furthermore, asthma and major depressive disorder share several risk factors and have similar patterns of dysregulation in key biologic systems, including the neuroendocrine stress response, cytokines, and neuropeptides. Despite the evidence that depression is common in people with asthma and exerts a negative impact on outcome, few treatment studies have examined whether improving symptoms of depression do, in fact, result in better control of asthma symptoms or improved quality of life in patients with asthma.

Sujets

• Asthma
• Dépression
• Pathophysiology
• Treatment

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 17
• Langue: English

Extrait

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Key words: asthma, depression, pathophysiology, treatment

P contribute to the links between asthma and psychiatric system dysfunction that predispose people to asthma or disease states such as depression. The notion that  worsen the course of asthma independent of behavioural emotional stress can precipitate or exacerbate acute and  response style or the experience of illness-related stress or chronic asthma 1 has been recognized anecdotally for  depression. many years. Psychologica l barriers, such as faulty The purpose of this review is to summarize the symptom attribution, adoption or rejection of the sick  disparate reports in the literature that point toward an role, and low self-esteem, may negatively impact treat-  association between asthma and psychological factors. The ment adherence. Conversely, the presence of a chronic  review has four primary components. The first briefly and potentially life-threatening illness may exert enough  examines the evidence that psychological interventions stress that an anxiety or depressive disorder emerges in  can be beneficial in the treatment of asthma, ignoring vulnerable patients. As a consequence, epidemiologic  whether the patients involved in the intervention have any associations between major depressive disorder (MDD)  a priori evidence of psychological distress or impaired and asthma might be apparent but not reflect a shared  psychosocial function. The second part of the review pathophysiologic vulnerability. Alternatively, there may be  addresses the limited literature on whether the presence of aspects of dysregulation in key biologic systems, such as  psychiatric illness, primarily major depression or an the neuroendocrine stress response or cytokine system,  anxiety disorder (AD), has a negative impact on asthma that predispose people to both asthma and psychiatric  outcome and whether treatment of the psychiatric illness independent of the psychological impact of one  condition improves these outcomes and also considers the epidemiologic evidence of an association between Ryan J. Van Lieshout and Glenda MacQueen: Depa tment of Psychiatry asthma and depression. The third section considers the andBehaviouralNeurosciences,McMasterUniversit r y,Hamilton,ON. multiple biologic factors that could contribute to a shared Correspondence to: Dr. Glenda MacQueen , Department of Psychiatry vulnerability for depression and asthma as several key and Behavioural Neurosciences, 4N77A, McMaster University Medical systems share patterns of dysregulation across these Centre, 1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5; e-mail: illnesses. Finally, we discuss a nascent literature examining [e-mail]. the central nervous system (CNS) correlates of an DOI 10.2310/7480.2008.00002 asthmatic response.

Psychological Factors in Asthma Ryan J. Van Lieshout, MD and Glenda MacQueen, MD, PhD, FRCPC

Asthma has long been considered a condition in which psychological factors have a role. As in many illnesses, psychological variables may affect outcome in asthma via their effects on treatment adherence and symptom reporting. Emerging evidence suggests that the relation between asthma and psychological factors may be more complex than that, however. Central cognitive processes may influence not only the interpretation of asthma symptoms but also the manifestation of measurable changes in immune and physiologic markers of asthma. Furthermore, asthma and major depressive disorder share several risk factors and have similar patterns of dysregulation in key biologic systems, including the neuroendocrine stress response, cytokines, and neuropeptides. Despite the evidence that depression is common in people with asthma and exerts a negative impact on outcome, few treatment studies have examined whether improving symptoms of depression do, in fact, result in better control of asthma symptoms or improved quality of life in patients with asthma.

Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology, Vol 4, No 1 (Spring), 2008: pp 12–28

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