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Published on: March 3, 2023
Symptom severity is associated with signs of central sensitization in patients with asthma
Janet Rodríguez-Torres1, Laura López-López1, Irene Cabrera-Martos1
1Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Introduction:
Asthma is characterized by recurrent episodes of wheezing, dyspnoea, chest tightness and cough. In addition to respiratory symptoms, previous studies have reported the presence of pain.
Objective:
To analyse the nociceptive processing of young adults with well-controlled asthma.
Methods:
A cross-sectional case-control study was performed. Patients diagnosed with persistent well-controlled asthma were recruited from the 'Complejo Hospitalario Universitario' (Granada). Main outcomes included pain processing, measured by the pressure-pain thresholds (PPTs) and temporal summation and latency of pain; symptoms, including cough (Leicester Cough Questionnaire) and dyspnoea (Borg scale); and catastrophic cognitions about breathlessness, assessed by the Breathlessness Catastrophizing Scale (BCS).
Results:
Seven-two participants were finally recruited in our study. Patients with asthma presented lower pressure thresholds (p < 0.05) and significant differences in latency and summation tests. These patients also presented a greater cough level, with significant differences in all subscales (p < 0.05). Significant differences were also found in the BCS between groups (p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
Our results show a decrease of PPTs and a greater pain intensity in latency and summation tests, suggesting an abnormal pain processing in patients with asthma.
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