INFLUENCE OF SPECIFIC EMOTIONAL STATES ON AUTONOMIC REACTIVITY AND PULMONARY-FUNCTION IN ASTHMATIC-CHILDREN

Objective: Research relating depression/hopelessness to cholinergic ac tivation suggests the hypothesis that sad emotional states evoke patte rns of autonomic reactivity that predispose to cholinergically mediate d airway constriction in asthma. A corollary hypothesis is that positi ve (e.g., happy) emotional states evoke opposing effects. The purpose of the current study is to assess whether specific emotional states (s adness and happiness) can be reliably induced, physiologically differe ntiated, and related to asthma-relevant physiologic (autonomic) reacti vity and pulmonary function in asthmatic children. Method: Twenty-four children, aged 8 to 17 years, with moderate to severe asthma, viewed the movie E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial while having their heart and res piration rate and oxygen saturation continuously recorded. Specific sc enes were identified and preselected to evoke sadness, happiness, and a mixture of happiness and sadness. Self-report of emotion and indices of physiologic response were analyzed for these targeted scenes. Resu lts: Sadness was associated with greater heart rate variability and in stability of oxygen saturation compared with happiness, with mixed res ults for mixed happiness and sadness. Conclusion: Results support sadn ess as evoking patterns of autonomic influence consistent with choline rgically mediated airway constriction. Happiness appears to effect aut onomic patterns that would tend to relieve airway constriction.