Observations on Patterns of Subjective Symptomatology of Acute Asthma

Abstract

Five symptom categories have previously been identified which described the subjective symptoms experienced during asthma attacks: These include 2 mood symptom categories, panic-fear and irritability, describing affective states concomitant with asthma; 2 somatic symptom categories, hyperventilation-hypocapnia and airway obstruction, describing reports of more specific bodily symptoms; and fatigue, describing the reduced energy level accompanying asthma attacks. In this study, 15 patterns of asthma symptomatology based on reported frequency of the 5 symptom categories during asthma attacks were identified within a group of 100 inpatients with asthma. The relationships between scores on the individual symptom categories within patterns showed that hyperventilation-hypocapnia symptoms were associated with generally high levels of the mood symptom categories, but not clearly related to the reported frequency of airway obstruction symptoms; high fatigue symptom scores accompanied both high mood symptom and airway obstruction symptom category scores; and high airway obstruction scores were not necessarily associated with high scores on the mood symptom categories. Patients who showed patterns with high mood symptom scores were prescribed higher steroid regimens upon discharge. Alternative explanations for the latter finding are discussed in some detail.