Korean J Asthma Allergy Clin Immunol.  2011 Mar;31(1):20-26.

Variation of Dyspnea Perception in Repeatedly Hospitalized Patients with Asthma

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Anti-asthma treatments correct impaired dyspnea perception.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether dyspnea perception in asthmatics vary whenever they are hospitalized. METHOD: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 64 patients (32 men and 32 women) with acute asthma who were hospitalized at least twice and assessed using the Borg scale-based dyspnea perception score while breathing through an inspiratory muscle trainer at each admission. Poor perceiver was defined as a Borg score of < or =5 at the highest resistive load (HR) and HR-induced DeltaBorg score of < or =3. RESULT: Between the first and second admissions, the relationship of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (r=0.773, P<0.001) and the concordance of severity of asthma attack (kappa=0.503, P<0.001) were significant, but the relationship of HR-induced DeltaBorg score and the concordance of poor perceivers were not. During the first admission, as lung function increased gradually, the HR-induced DeltaBorg score became higher in poor perceivers (1.83+/-0.39-->3.42+/-0.57-->4.00+/-0.67, P=0.048).
CONCLUSION
Although asthmatic patients who suffered from a severe asthma attack tended to have a severe attack again at the following admission, dyspnea perception differs among the admissions. Impaired dyspnea perception during acute asthmatic attack would be correctable with anti-asthma treatments.

MeSH Terms

Asthma
Dyspnea
Forced Expiratory Volume
Humans
Lung
Male
Medical Records
Muscles
Respiration
Retrospective Studies