Effects of aging on sensation of dyspnea and health-related quality of life in elderly asthmatics.
OBJECTIVE
As the awareness of sensory stimuli is often impaired in older subjects, it has been hypothesized that the aging process may influence the perception of dyspnea. This study aimed at evaluating the aging-related difference in perception of spontaneously occurring dyspnea in adult asthmatics and at whether any such aging-related differences have an effect on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL).


METHODS
18 elderly asthmatics (EA) aged >65 years and 20 young asthmatics (YA) (age range 16-44 years) were recruited. In all subjects, 12-month asthma symptom score and respiratory function were recorded. Dyspnea was measured at rest by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and HRQOL by the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ).


RESULTS
Although the groups did not differ for FEV1% predicted, the EA showed lower VAS scores (9.9+/-19.8 mm vs 19.5+/-17.0, p<0.05). As regards HRQOL, only the "Symptom" section of SGRQ showed lesser impairment in EA.


CONCLUSIONS
Aging is associated with blunted sensation of dyspnea. This only partly attenuates the disease-related impairment in quality of life, and other factors are presumed to counterbalance this effect.
Battaglia
Salvatore
S
Cattedra di Malattie dell'Apparato Respiratorio, Istituto di Medicina Generale e Pneumologia, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Sandrini
Maria Cristina
MC
Catalano
Filippo
F
Arcoleo
Giuseppe
G
Giardini
Gianluca
G
Vergani
Carlo
C
Bellia
Vincenzo
V
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D013223:Statistics as Topic