PERCEPTION OF ANXIETY AS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR OF ASTHMA - INDIGENT VERSUS NONINDIGENT

Although asthma is not an emotional or psychological disease, strong e motions can sometimes make asthma worse. Asthmatic attacks and reducti ons in FEV1 have been intentionally induced in asthmatic patients thro ugh exposure to emotional stimuli. People of lower socioeconomic statu s have been associated with higher prevalences of both anxiety and dep ression. Therefore, a group of indigent (IP) and nonindigent privately insured asthmatic patients (non-IP) were surveyed to determine their perceptions of asthma triggers. The patients responded to several poss ible triggers by the following descriptors: never, rarely, sometimes, frequently, always. There were no significant differences at the 0.05 level between the groups in age, gender, or length of history of asthm a. In response to the question pertaining to asthma triggered when ups et or anxious, 51% of 57 patients responded to the ''frequently'' or ' 'always'' category in the IP compared to 19% of 52 in the non-IP. Furt her research is warranted to explain these differences. If these diffe rences are real, optimal therapies for psychogenic asthma (e.g., addit ion of anticholinergic aerosols) or the treatment of anxiety itself in the IP need to be evaluated.