Emotional Reactivity Of The Airways In Asthma

Emotional reactivity of the airways in asthma: Consistency across
emotion-induction techniques and emotional qualities
Thomas Ritz a,∗, Antje Kullowatza, Michael D. Goldmanb, Frank Kanniessc,Helgo Magnussenc, Bernhard Dahmed
a Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, United States
b University of Texas, El Paso, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,El Paso, TX, United States
c Pulmonary Research Institute, Grosshansdorf, Germany
d Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 22June 2009
Accepted 28 February 2010
Available online 6 March 2010
Keywords:
Asthma
Airways
Emotion
Respiratory resistance
Cholinergic blockade
a b s t r a c t
Considerable individualdifferences exist in asthma patients’ airway responses to emotional stimuli, but
little is known about the generalization of such responses across situations or states of airways constriction.
Fifty-fourasthma patients and 25 healthy controls viewed in two separate sessions, films and blocks
of pictures from each of three emotional qualities, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. At the beginning
of eachsession, patients received a placebo or anti-cholinergic bronchodilator (ipratropium bromide),
respectively, in a randomized double-blind design. Respiratory resistance, reactance and impedance wererecorded throughout stimulus presentations with impulse oscillometry. Resistance increases showed a
moderate degree of generalization across unpleasant films and pictures, unpleasant and pleasantpictures,
as well as cholinergic blockade and placebo. Thus, the intensity of airway responses to unpleasant
emotional stimuli is a moderately stable characteristic of asthma patients. In addition tothe central
airway, peripheral and extrathoracic airways may also contribute the consistency of such responses.
© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Asthmatic airway constriction in response...