Does experience influence perception of dyspnea?
OBJECTIVE: The perception of somatic sensations like dyspnea can be influenced by such factors as an individual s personality, experiences, or ability to adapt to stimuli. Our aim was to determine whether the perception of acute bronchoconstriction is different for patients with asthma and patients who have never experienced an episode of airway obstruction. PATIENTS AND METHOD: We studied 2 groups of patients. The first consisted of 24 subjects with intermittent rhinitis and asthma (10 females and 14 males) with a mean (SD) age of 25 (7) years. All reported not feeling dyspnea at rest on a Borg scale. The second group consisted of 24 subjects who only had rhinitis but no lung disease (no episode of asthma) or dyspnea at rest (12 females and 12 males) with a mean age of 27 (6) years. There were no significant differences between the groups with regard to sex, smoking, economic or educational level, anxiety (determined by the trait portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), depressi
