Associations between distress tolerance and asthma symptoms and quality of life

Abstract

Objective: Given the robust associations between anxiety and asthma, the purpose of the current study was to explore associations between asthma outcomes and tolerance for negative affective states (i.e. distress tolerance) as well as tolerance for the specific negative emotional states of anxiety and fear. Methods: Participants were 61 nonsmoking adults with asthma (61.9% female, 54.8% African-American, M_age = 34.72, SD = 13.58) who underwent spirometry and completed self-report measures. Results: After controlling for the effects of age, race and the physical concerns domain of anxiety sensitivity, poorer global distress tolerance and tolerance for fear and anxiety each significantly predicted poorer lung function (8.7–13.8% variance), asthma control (4.9–8.8% variance) and asthma-related quality of life (6.7–8.9%). Conclusions: These findings suggest that targeting distress tolerance, specifically tolerance of fear and anxiety, may be helpful in improving asthma outcomes.

Keywords:

• Anxiety
• asthma control
• distress tolerance
• lung function

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a seed grant from the University of Cincinnati Leadership Empowerment Advancement for Women STEM Faculty (UC LEAF) Program awarded to Alison C. McLeish.