Psychosocial factors, respiratory viruses and exacerbation of asthma

Abstract

The aim of this research was study the role of psychosocial factors in exacerbations of asthma in adults induced by upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). It involved a longitudinal study (one year) of 92 adults with asthma. The volunteers were 27 men and 65 women 19-46 years of age with a mean duration of wheeze of 19 years. The main outcome measure was symptomatic colds producing asthma exacerbations (infections confirmed by laboratory assays and exacerbation of asthma confirmed by objective changes in peak expiratory flow rate). The results showed that about 20% of the sample did not report an episode. This sub-group had a high proportion of males, low negative affectivity scores and consumed more alcohol. When volunteers with at least one episode were considered it was found that those who reported more negative life events and had low levels of social support had more episodes. Smokers were more likely to have to visit their doctor when they developed a cold-induced exacerbation of asthma. Overall, these results show that health-related behaviours, demographic and psychosocial factors influence susceptibility to and severity of exacerbations of asthma by URTIs.

Fig. 1

Mean number of cold/asthma episodes in subjects who reported high/low numbers of negative life events and with high/low levels of social support (scores are the adjusted means from the analysis of covariance, s.e.s shown as bars).