Depression and pulmonary function in outpatients with asthma.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between depression, anxiety and pulmonary function in asthmatics. Thirty-eight adult asthmatic patients underwent psychometric evaluation with the DSSI/sAD questionnaire, filled in an asthma questionnaire and underwent spirometry. The majority of patients suffered from mild-persistent asthma. Twenty-six reported symptoms of anxiety and 25 reported symptoms of depression. A statistically significant reduction in FEV1 and FEV1/FVC values was observed in asthmatic patients with symptoms of depression. The mean value of FEV1 was 81.84(+/-20.83) in patients without symptoms and 63.73(+/-17.99) in patients with symptoms of depression. The mean values of FEV1/FVC were 0.85(+/-0.11) and 0.75(+/-0.10), respectively. These findings indicate a high frequency of depression and anxiety in adult asthmatic patients. A biological linkage between depression and impaired pulmonary function is proposed.
Lung function lab, Physiology Department, Medical School, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece. gckromm@yahoo.gr
Georgios C
GC
Krommydas
Konstantinos I
KI
Gourgoulianis
Nikiforos V
NV
Angelopoulos
Evangelia
E
Kotrotsiou
Vasilios
V
Raftopoulos
Paschalis-Adam
PA
Molyvdas
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D014797:Vital Capacity / Q000502:physiology