Relationship between breathlessness and anxiety in asthma and bronchitis: a comparative study.

Two personality testing forms, the Eysenck Personality Inventory Form A and the Cattell Self Analysis Form, were completed on 471 hospital patients who fell within the general diagnostic range of asthma, bronchitis, or both. Respiratory diagnoses were based on the standard M.R.C. questionary. All categories of patients showed a tendency towards neuroticism, anxiety, and introversion, and the scores were slightly higher for bronchitics than for asthmatics. Neuroticism and anxiety increased with increasing respiratory disability. Variations in these scores with age of onset of symptoms and length of history were small.