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Emotionally triggered asthma as a predictor of airway response to suggestion
Author(s) -
JansonBjerklie Susan,
Boushey Homer A.,
Carrieri Virginia K.,
Lindsey Ada M.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.4770090212
Subject(s) - provocation test , asthma , arousal , medicine , airway , airway resistance , isotonic saline , perception , isotonic , psychology , clinical psychology , anesthesia , social psychology , alternative medicine , pathology , neuroscience
Twenty‐nine male and female adults with asthma were tested to determine the relationship between perceived response to emotional triggers of asthma and broncho‐constrictive suggestion. Subjects were told that they were inhaling a bronchoconstricting agent in four increasingly potent concentrations, when in fact the solution the subjects inhaled was nebulized isotonic saline. Ten subjects responded to suggestion with a greater than 20% increase in specific airway resistance, but this response could not be predicted by the report of perceived emotional triggers of asthma. The finding that perception of asthmatic response to emotional arousal does not predict airway response to bronchoconstrictive suggestion may mean that suggestion is an invalid proxy variable for studying the role of psychological factors in provocation of asthma.