Affect status and perception of exacerbation in patients with asthma

Exacerbations occur commonly in patients with asthma but factors affecting perception of dyspnea during exacerbation are not well known. This investigation was designed to determine the effects of negative mood on perception of dyspnea during exacerbation. A total of 47 patient aged 28‐78 years (mean age, 52.5 years) admitted with acute asthma had recordings of blood gas pressure, negative mood score, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁), and dyspnea score at admission and at the 72nd hour. Perceived intensity of dyspnea was estimated using a modified Borg scale. The negative mood was assessed with an overall of six mood adjectives (nervous‐anxious, sad‐blue, and tired‐drowsy). High negative mood score was defined as the score above the cutoff point (median score, >7). Borg sore of patients with a high negative mood score was higher than that of patients with a low negative mood score (6.3 ± 2.5 versus 4.4 ± 2.4; p = 0.01). The high Borg sore of asthmatic patients with high negative mood persisted even at the 72nd hour (1.6 ± 0.9 versus 1.0 ± 0.7; p = 0.01). FEV₁ values of both groups at admission were similar. The negative mood score (beta = 0.68; p = 0.0001) and initial FEV₁ (beta = −0.42; p = 0.01) were the important determinants of Borg score at admission in all patients with multivariate analysis but not arterial oxygen pressure, arterial carbon dioxide pressure, asthma duration, and female sex. This study indicated that emotional factors, as well as the level of airways obstruction, predicted the magnitude of dyspnea at exacerbation of asthmatic patients. Thus, the emotional factors should be taken into account in the treatment of dyspnea at exacerbation.