Seasonal dynamics of the quality of life of asthmatics with osmotic airway hyperresponsiveness

Background: The changes in the quality of life (QoL) in the seasons with different humidity can be expected in the people with osmotic airway hyperresponsiveness (OAH). Aim was to assess QoL in asthmatics with OAH in contrast seasons of the year.Methods: 65 asthma patients with OAH were examined in the wet (July-August) and relatively dry seasons (April, May, October). QoL was assessed using SF-36, AQLQ, the level of anxiety by HADS. OAH was diagnosed if the fall of FEV1 was by more than 10% from baseline after 3-minute inhalation with ultrasound-nebulized distilled water.Results: QoL was significantly worse in the wet season than in the dry season by all the domains except for the "Bodily Pain" of SF-36. The biggest differences were revealed for the domains of PF (56.9±5.2 vs. 81.1±5.2 points, respectively, p<0.01), SF (47.1±4.7 vs. 77.4±5.3 points, p<0.001), GH (52.0±6.0 vs. 74.4±5.4 points, p<0.05) of SF-36 and for the domains «Activity» (3.6±0.2 vs. 4.9±0.2 points, p<0.001) and «Environment» (2.9±0.3 vs. 4.8±0.4 points, p<0.01) of AQLQ. In the dry season anxiety significantly affected the self-esteem of QoL. A negative correlation between anxiety and domains of «Environment» (r=-0.60), «Symptoms» (r=-0.46), and «Activity» (r=-0.54) was revealed. In the stuffy-wet season these correlations disappeared. It suggest the suppressing i...
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Occupational and Environmental Health Source Type: research