Asthmatics don't need to hear the word "wheeze"

According to a new study, as far as asthmatics are concerned, just the mention of words such as "wheeze" can activate an attack.

This small study of six patients, sheds some light on the emotional underpinnings of the disease.

The researchers found that asthma patients have extra activity in an area of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex, which is associated with emotional responses.

The study suggests, say the researchers, that the brains of people with asthma may over-react to emotional and physiological signals related to their disease.

Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues, say their findings could explain why asthma attacks in response to allergens, can worsen during stressful times.

In the study, patients with asthma were given ragweed or dust-mite extracts to inhale and then heard three different types of asthma-related words, such as "wheeze", non-asthma negative terms such as "loneliness", and neutral words such as "curtains".

Then functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, was used to watch the brain activity as this was happening.

It appeared that two areas of the brain showed more activity in response to asthma-related words, the insula, which plays a role in obtaining information about the body's physiological condition, such as shortness of breath, and the anterior cingulate cortex, involved in processing emotions.

Davidson says that in asthmatics, the anterior cingulate cortex and the insula may be hyper-responsive to emotional and physiological signals, like inflammation, which may in turn influence the severity of symptoms.

He adds that while the study was small, it has shown how important specific brain circuits can be in modulating inflammation.

Davidson believes the data suggests there are potential targets for the development of drugs and behavioral interventions, to control asthma and other stress-responsive disorders in the future.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.