A Prospective Study of the Relationship of Mood and Stress to Pulmonary Function Among Patients with Asthma*

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of psychosocial and other variables to pulmonary function over four months. Thirty-two patients with asthma kept daily records of pulmonary function and psychosocial variables for an average of 140 days. Data on other potential covariates of pulmonary function, as assessed by peak flow meters, were also collected (e.g., allergen exposure). Sixteen subjects (50%) had significant associations between pulmonary function and psychosocial variables. Between-subjects analyses showed small but significant associations between pulmonary function and other variables. These results confirmed previous reports of individual variability in the association of psychosocial variables with pulmonary function.

• Asthma
• Mood
• Stress
• Pulmonary function
• Menses
• Allergy
• Exercise
• Relationship
• Couples

Abbreviations
OCP	=	oral contraceptive pill
HRT	=	hormone replacement therapy
PEF	=	peak expiratory flow
FEV1	=	forced expiratory volume in the first second
DAS	=	Dyadic Adjustment Scale
DIS	=	Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-III-R
PC20	=	the concentration of methacholine (mg/mL) that causes a 20% drop in FEV1
FEV1/FVC	=	the proportion of forced expiratory volume in the first second to full vital capacity
TSCSREG	=	time series cross-sectional regression

Abbreviations
OCP	=	oral contraceptive pill
HRT	=	hormone replacement therapy
PEF	=	peak expiratory flow
FEV1	=	forced expiratory volume in the first second
DAS	=	Dyadic Adjustment Scale
DIS	=	Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-III-R
PC20	=	the concentration of methacholine (mg/mL) that causes a 20% drop in FEV1
FEV1/FVC	=	the proportion of forced expiratory volume in the first second to full vital capacity
TSCSREG	=	time series cross-sectional regression