Neural Mechanisms in Asthma

Neural Mechanisms by Which Chronic Stress Regulates Inflammation in Asthma

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01155843

Enrollment

Registered

2010-07-02

Start date

2011-10-31

Completion date

2014-11-30

Last updated

2015-10-02

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Asthma

Brief summary

Asthma is a chronic disease that affects nearly 13% of adults in the U.S., causing substantial impairment that is reflected in the tens of millions of missed days of work, and doctors' and emergency room visits it leads to annually. Those who have asthma are twice as likely to develop depression and anxiety, which are associated with more frequent and severe asthma symptoms, especially in those under chronic stress. The project proposed here seeks to understand the role of the brain in these associations and to evaluate the neural mechanisms through which a safe, low-cost intervention, that influences the function of body via the mind, may diminish the expression of asthma symptoms.

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

CASE_CONTROL

Time perspective

CROSS_SECTIONAL

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 45 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Asthmatics: * Physician diagnosed asthma with previous use of asthma medication * Controls: * negative skin-prick test to cat dander or house dust mite and have no history of asthma * Chronic Stress: * score 3 or above on any subscale of the UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) chronic stress interview No chronic stress: score 1.5 or below on all subscales of the UCLA chronic stress interview

Exclusion criteria

* Individuals with severe asthma, or those whom currently require the use of corticosteroids * Individuals with significant medical problems * Individuals who smoke cigarettes * Individuals a previous adverse reaction to corticosteroids, a recent (\< 1 month) viral illness, a history of severe asthma or anaphylaxis. * Breastfeeding women or women who are, suspect they might be or are trying to become pregnant

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Neural activity in response to stress	duration of stress (30 minutes)	positron emission tomography
inflammation	24 hours	infiltration of eosinophils into lung sputum, percentage of blood eosinophils, exhaled nitric oxide, glucocorticoid sensitivity of peripheral blood leukocytes
lung function	24 hours	peak expiratory volume in 1 sec effort
peripheral acute stress reactivity	60 minutes	salivary cortisol and alpha amylase in response to acute stressor

Countries

United States

Outcome results