Poor Mental Health May Boost As...(connection between mental health and ast...),Health

"In general, the results of this study are not really novel," Lavoie said. "We already know that there is a strong association between high levels of psychological distress and psychiatric disorders such as mood disorders, such as major depression and anxiety disorders and panic disorder, and both a higher prevalence of asthma and worse asthma outcomes," she said.

The real question is why, Lavoie said. "Is it because people who are more stressed out take worse care of themselves? For example, people who are depressed and/or anxious tend to smoke more, eat more, exercise less, and tend not to take their medications as prescribed," she said.

"Perhaps it is because stress is associated with a number of important physiological changes, such as autonomous nervous system changes, which may cause increased chest tightness in patients with asthma, or immune system changes, which may cause increased inflammation in the airways of asthmatics," Lavoie said.

More information

For more on asthma, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

SOURCES: Thomas Chun, M.D., assistant professor, emergency medicine, Brown University, Providence, R.I.; Kim Lavoie, Ph.D., assistant professor, psychology, University of Quebec, Montreal; December 2008 Chest