[Relation between dyspnea and personality in patients with pulmonary emphysema and healthy subjects]

To determine whether personality is related to dyspnea sensation, 19 healthy males and 17 male patients with pulmonary emphysema were tested for modified visual analog scale (VAS) during hypoxic and hypercapnic interventions. Personality was tested by both Yatabe-Guillford test and manifest anxiety scale. VAS score correlated positively with anxiety score during hypercapnia and inspiratory resistive loading under hypercapnia in healthy subjects. In patients, anxiety score correlated positively with VAS scores during hypoxia, hypercapnia, and resistive loading under hypercapnia. Scores for nervousness and cyclic tendency correlated with VAS scores during hypoxia and hypercapnia in patients. These results indicate close relation between anxiety and dyspnea in healthy as well as emphysematous subjects. In emphysema, nervousness and cyclic tendency are the additional determinants for dyspnea.