Gender differences in psychological distress in adults with asthma

Objectives: We sought to examine whether there were gender differences in t he relationship of depressive, anxiety-related, and somatic symptomatology to the presence, severity, and duration of asthma. Methods: A total of 54 a dult asthma patients (24 women, 30 men) and 31 healthy subjects (19 women, 12 men) were studied. Within each gender group, patients' psychological dis tress levels were compared as a function of severity (mild vs. moderate) an d duration of disease ( <5 vs. + years), to each other and with healthy sub jects. Data were collected in Ukraine utilizing the Minnesota Multiphasic P ersonality Inventory (MMPI), the best-validated psychological assessment in strument in Eastern European populations. Results: Relative to healthy wome n, women with both mild and moderate asthma showed elevated distress in mul tiple domains reflecting somatic and psychological complaints. In contrast, only men with relatively more severe disease of longer duration showed ele vated symptomatology relative to healthy men, with depressive symptoms pred ominating. Conclusion: To the extent that distress in response to asthma ta kes a more diffuse form and may be expressed at milder and earlier stages o f the disease in women than men, the findings suggest the need to tailor as thma education and behavioral interventions to the unique psychological nee ds of women and men in order to be maximally effective. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience Inc. All rights reserved.