Personality Types and Severity of Asthma. The Relationship between Personality Types & Personality Traits and Severity of Asthma among Elderly People

      Аннотация: Asthma, similarly to other chronic conditions, is strongly influenced by psychological factors. Psychological factors that affect physical conditions have been well established, as it plays a major role in reduction of psychological disorders. There are numerous factors that may be involved in initiation of asthma attacks and there is growing evidence that emotional/ psychological stress is a trigger. Results show predominance of Neurotic characteristics and lowered Extroversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness & Conscientiousness characteristics in asthmatics as compared to the general Iranian population. Decreased Extroversion & Openness to Experience are observed as the severity and duration of the disease increase. Results also indicate that there is a strong correlation between various levels of stress, depression, excitability, anxiety symptoms and severity of asthma among elder people suffering from asthma. There is a significant sex difference in the effect of psychological factors in asthma risk. A high extroversion score is a strong predictor of incident asthma among women. Prevalent asthma decreases life satisfaction and is associated with a high neuroticism score.

Ключевые слова: personality types, personality traits, Severity of Asthma