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Biomedical subjects

S M Hochron

Publications and source records attributed to S M Hochron.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Relationship between changes in EMG and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in a study of relaxation therapy for asthma.

This paper reports the relationships among changes in cardiovagal activity, surface EMG, and measures of pulmonary function in a study of relaxation therapy for asthma. Changes in FEV1/FVC were negatively correlated with those in cardiac interbeat interval, consistent with the hypothesis that relaxation-induced changes in airway function are mediated autonomically, with increased vagal tone and/or decreased sympathetic arousal producing bronchoconstriction. Contrary to Kotses's theory of a vagal-trigeminal reflex as mediator for relaxation-induced improvement in asthma, decreases in pulmonary function occurred during relaxation sessions, accompanied by increases in cardiovagal activity, and within-session changes in frontal EMG in the first session of training were positively associated with changes in a measure of pulmonary function (FEV1/FVC). However, consistent with this hypothesis, first-session frontalis EMG changes were positively associated with changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and last-session changes in cardiac interbeat interval were positively associated with changes in FEV1/FVC. The results suggest that the immediate effects of generalized relaxation instruction can be associated with a parasympathetic rebound, which, in tum, may induce countertherapeutic changes in asthma. However, the effects of specific facial muscle relaxation remain unclear.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Cardiac rhythm effects of .125-Hz paced breathing through a resistive load: implications for paced breathing therapy and the polyvagal theory.

This study examined the psychophysiological effects of slow-paced breathing while subjects breathed through external respiratory resistive loads. Twenty-four normal volunteers completed four 5-min trials of paced breathing (.125 Hz) through an inspiratory resistive wire mesh screen (0 to 25 cm H2O/L/s). Each trial was followed by a 5-min rest trial. There was evidence for hyperventilation and/or fatigue during paced breathing. Also, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was elevated in the first minute of paced breathing, and then declined toward baseline. Heart period decreased during paced breathing trials, and fell significantly below baseline during rest periods. These data suggest decreased vagus nerve activity and/or sympathetic activation, following an initial increase in parasympathetic activity during paced breathing. They are not consistent with the use of .125-Hz paced breathing as a relaxation technique, particularly during respiratory resistive stress. Finally, although RSA and average heart period changed synchronously within paced breathing and rest conditions, they diverged in comparisons between pacing and rest. This dissociation suggests that different mechanisms mediate these two cardiac parameters. These data are consistent with Porges' theory that vagal influences on tonic heart rate are mediated by the combined effect of vagal projections from both the nucleus ambiguus and the dorsal motor nucleus, while RSA is mediated only through the nucleus ambiguus alone.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Effect of psychological stress on airway impedance in individuals with asthma and panic disorder.

The authors assessed airway impedance responses to psychological stressors among 113 individuals: 61 with asthma only (AS), 10 with asthma and panic disorder (ASPD), 24 with panic disorder only (PD), and 18 controls with neither condition (CON). Individuals with either AS or PD were affected by psychological stressors as measured by the forced oscillation technique. Individuals with PD (with or without AS) displayed lower airway impedance than those without PD. These data suggest that the airways of individuals with PD are in a chronic state of preparedness, which may promote hyperventilation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Predictors of panic-fear in asthma.

Eighty-six asthmatics completed measures of illness-specific panic-fear (i.e., panic-fear in response to symptoms of asthma) and of generalized panic-fear, dyspnea frequency, and catastrophic cognitions about bodily symptoms (the Anxiety Sensitivity Index [ASI] and Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire [ACQ]). Asthma variables (self-report and pulmonary function tests) and cognitive variables (ASI and ACQ) were independently related to illness-specific panic-fear. Regression analyses showed that the cognitive variables predicted significant variance in both panic-fear scales after controlling for the effects of demographic and asthma variables. By contrast, the asthma variables were not associated with generalized panic-fear when the cognitive measures were controlled. In light of the adverse effects of panic-fear on asthma, the authors' results suggest that researchers may fruitfully explore the use of cognitive techniques as an adjunctive treatment for improving asthma outcome.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Relaxation and music therapies for asthma among patients prestabilized on asthma medication.

One hundred six asthmatic subjects were medically prestabilized, then assigned to eight sessions of progressive relaxation, music, or a waiting-list. Seventy-two subjects completed treatment, of which 37 were evaluated in the laboratory with measures of forced expiratory flow. Relaxation-group subjects reported feeling the most deeply relaxed and produced the greatest improvement in forced expiratory flow during the last presession assessment period. All groups evidenced decreases in asthma symptoms. All groups showed decreases in pulmonary function immediately after relaxation sessions. None of the changes in pulmonary function reached levels that are accepted in drug trials to be of clinical significance, and the therapeutic changes occurred only in the situation where training was rendered. Listening to music produced greater decreases in peaks of tension than progressive relaxation, and it produced greater compliance with relaxation practice, but it did not produce any specific therapeutic effects on asthma.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Anxiety sensitivity and panic attacks in an asthmatic population.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among anxiety sensitivity, the experience of frequent, spontaneous panic attacks, and pulmonary function in individuals with asthma. Ninety-three asthmatics participated by completing a battery of questionnaires and a spirometric assessment. Twenty-three percent of the asthmatics reported a history of spontaneous panic attacks with 9.7% reporting attacks that were severe and frequent enough to meet the DSM-IIIR criteria for panic disorder (PD). Anxiety sensitivity (ASI) scores, but not pulmonary function, was significantly related to PD. In addition, we compared the asthmatics (with and without PD) to 10 clinically diagnosed PD Ss without asthma and to 32 nonanxious, nonasthmatic controls on the ASI, the Body Sensations Questionnaire, and the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire. Whereas Ss with PD (asthmatic and nonasthmatic) displayed significant elevations on these measures compared to those without PD, the presence of asthma alone had no effect. The present study concurs with that of Porzelius et al. [Behaviour Research and Therapy, 30, 75-77 (1992)] in extending the validity of the cognitive model of PD to individuals with pulmonary disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The effects of atropine on respiratory sinus arrhythmia in asthma.

Heart rate is rhythmically related to respiratory rate, in a phenomenon known as respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Amplitude of RSA has been found to be an accurate noninvasive measure of vagal tone in the normal population. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between RSA and cardiac vagal tone among asthmatics, a group which has been described as having elevated RSA. This was accomplished by examining the effects of atropine on RSA in asthmatics, and comparing the results to those obtained elsewhere among normal subjects. Atropine at a dose of 1 mg/75 kg body weight was administered to 18 asthmatics, and produced decreases in RSA, equivalent to those previously found among normal subjects. The results suggest that the relationship between cardiac vagal tone and RSA is unaffected by the presence of asthma.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Effects of aerosol ipratropium bromide on cardiac vagal tone.

Thirty-one adult asthmatic subjects, aged 18 to 40 years, were administered both ipratropium bromide and placebo, in two sessions, held at least 2 days apart, in balanced order. Pulmonary function, heart period (milliseconds between heart beats), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (a measure of cardiac vagal tone) were assessed before drug administration and 45 min thereafter. Ipratropium bromide had no significant effect on cardiac vagal tone, while it did produce improvement in pulmonary function.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1993

The Asthma Symptom Profile: a psychophysically based scale for assessment of asthma symptoms.

The Asthma Symptom Profile (ASP) assesses phasic changes in three dimensions of asthma symptoms: intensity, unpleasantness, and quality of sensations. Quantification data on verbal descriptors were gathered from 46 adult asthmatics for each of these scales, using bimodality scaling: i.e., with numerical estimates and drawing lines varying length. Close agreement was obtained between these two modalities. The ASP was analyzed before and after a bronchodilator in 44 asthmatics using ipratropium bromide (IB). Forty of these subjects were also tested in a placebo condition. Although ASP changes produced by IB were no greater than those produced by the placebo, correlations with changes in spirometry variables were significant. There were no significant differences in correlations with line drawings vs. numerical ratings. The ASP appears to be useful measure of phasic changes in asthma symptoms. Asthmatics with mild airway obstruction do not appear to be able to discriminate small changes in airway function.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Asthma and emotion: a review.

This review of the empirical literature on the relationship between asthma and emotion presents an explanatory model of the connection between them. Asthmatics tend to report and display a high level of negative emotion, and asthma exacerbations have been linked temporally to periods of heightened emotionality. Causality may be bidirectional. Hypothesized mediators for the relationship between asthma and emotionality include vagal and alpha-sympathetic hyperreactivity, predominant obstruction in the larger airways, individual response stereotypy, direct effects of emotion-related facial muscle tension on the airways, the emotional effects of asthma medications, heightened respiratory drive, and hyperventilation. Predictions are presented for research on this model of asthma and emotion, and for the psychological treatment of asthma.

Asthma↗
PubMed1992

Panic symptoms in asthma and panic disorder: a preliminary test of the dyspnea-fear theory.

Ley's (Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27, 549-554, 1989) dyspnea-fear theory was tested on three groups of subjects: 10 with panic disorder, 24 with asthma, and 12 who were nonanxious and nonasthmatic, using measures of pulmonary function, muscle tension; and self-report measures of generalized anxiety, dyspnea, and psychopathology. Results are supportive of dyspnea-fear theory for asthmatics but not for individuals with panic disorder. Differences between groups on panic/fear measures were explained by a combination of general anxiety and dyspnea. Within-group regression analyses showed that only generalized anxiety symptoms contributed significantly to scores on the Asthma Symptom Checklist scale of panic/fear within the panic disorder group; while only dyspnea contributed to panic/fear among asthmatics. Additional results show that panic disorder subjects performed normally on pulmonary function tests but reported respiratory symptoms as severe as did asthmatics. Compared with normal subjects, both patient groups displayed lower correlations between self-rated symptoms of bronchoconstriction and objective pulmonary measures. Panic disorder subjects showed a negative relationship between pulmonary function and hyperventilation symptoms, suggesting a heightened sensitivity to, and discomfort with, sensations associated with normal pulmonary function. Asthmatics displayed a significant relationship between degree of airway obstruction and both trapezius surface EMG and ratings of hyperventilation symptoms.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1986

Relaxation decreases large-airway but not small-airway asthma.

Eleven asthmatic subjects were each offered sixteen sessions of relaxation therapy, consisting of progressive relaxation, desensitization, and EMG biofeedback to the trapezius and frontalis areas, while 9 subjects were offered a complex placebo. Subjects in the relaxation condition showed greater improvement than subjects in the placebo condition in performance on a methacholine challenge test which, as a measure of airway reactivity, reflects degree of asthma. Subjects in both conditions showed improvements in various self-report measures of asthma symptoms and psychopathology. Subject in the relaxation condition reported a significantly greater decrease in frequency of emotional precursors to asthma attacks than subjects in the control condition. Overall improvement on the methacholine challenge test was predicted almost perfectly by heliox spirometry. Only subjects showing predominant large-airway obstruction obstruction improved on the methacholine challenge test. The relative contribution of large airway obstruction to asthma was found to correlate with psychopathology.

Adult↗