Do you have neurotic asthma?

William Atkins
Sunday, 03 May 2009 19:41

Science - Health

The researchers found that hysteria, anxiety, and depression—or high levels of neurotic tendencies—increase the risk from asthma.

In fact, high neurotic tendencies increase the risk of adult asthma by just over three (3) times the rate over those low neurotic tendencies.

They also found that the stressful life experience of breaking off a “life partnership” had a double (2 times) the risk of incident asthma.

On the other hand, the two other stressful life experiences studied—death of a close person and unemployment—did not show a significant association with the incidence or risk for asthma.

They concluded, “High levels of neuroticism may increase the risk of asthma in middle-aged adults. Having broken off a life partnership was the only stressful event, which was associated with incident asthma. Synthesized with evidence from earlier studies, this could reflect that interpersonal conflicts may increase asthma risk, possibly along an immunological pathway.”

The researchers hypothesize, based on animal studies, that chronic stress changes hormone levels, which could adversely affect the airways of the lungs.

They also state that neurotic character traits could effect the lungs in a similar manner. They suggest that treating neurotic people for increased likelihood from asthma may reduce their risk from asthma.

For more information on asthma, please search out the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s article “What is Asthma?”

For additional information on neurotic tendencies, go to MentalHelp.net’s article “What is Neuroticism?”