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Psychopathology
Asthma morbidity and mortality are often associated with delay in seeking treatment during severe asthma exacerbations, and poor perception of the severity of an attack has been proposed as a mechanism underlying treatment delay. Eckert and coworkers examined the ability to perceive externally applied resistive loads, as well as the symptoms experienced after methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction, in 16 individuals with stable asthma who were exposed to 34 minutes of isocapnic hypoxia, hypercapnia, or isocapnic normoxia. The perceived magnitude of externally applied resistive loads was reduced throughout hypoxia compared with normoxia, and there was a trend for a progressive decline during hypercapnia. Scores for difficult breathing, chest tightness, and breathlessness were 25 to 30% lower when methacholine was administered after hypoxia compared with normoxia or hypercapnia. The authors concluded that a short period of sustained hypoxia and possibly hypercapnia may impair sensations of respiratory load, and that the effects of hypoxia persist for at least 10 minutes after returning to normoxia.
1 Citation displayed.
Hypoxia Suppresses Symptom Perception in Asthma
- Danny J. Eckert, Peter G. Catcheside, Janet H. Smith, Peter A. Frith, and R. Doug McEvoy
Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 169: 1224 -1230. First published online as doi:10.1164/rccm.200305-630OC
[Abstract]
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