Personality dimensions seem to play an important role in chronic diseases by maintaining or increasing the patient's physical complaints. This study examines in bronchial asthma: (a) the relationships among clinical data, baseline lung function, and personality traits; and (b) the patient's characteristics related to the physician's judgement about his or her asthma severity. Five questionnaires measuring anxiety, depression, self-consciousness, and subjective symptoms were completed by 51 asthmatic patients. Responses to questionnaires and clinical and demographic data were factor-analyzed. Factor analysis revealed that the physician's severity judgement is based on elderly age, high scores on depression, and longer duration of asthma.
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Belloch et al. (1994) studied this question.
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