Affective traits, states, and breathlessness

Purpose of reviewBreathlessness is a prevalent and aversive symptom in various conditions and closely related to affect. Here, we review recent literature from the previous 18 months examining the interactions between affective traits and states with breathlessness.Recent findingsAvailable studies used various qualitative, quantitative, and experimental research designs in diverse samples of patients with breathlessness and in healthy individuals. Most studies clearly demonstrated that nonspecific forms of negative affective personality traits such as anxiety and depression, disease or symptom-specific forms such as fear-of-dyspnea and fear-of-physical activity as well as short-lasting negative affective states such as experimentally induced fear were associated with greater breathlessness. Moreover, breathlessness was shown to evoke negative affect, whereas positive affect reduced breathlessness. Different treatment approaches demonstrated concurrent beneficial effects on both negative affect and breathlessness and several potential mechanisms underlying these interactions were suggested.SummaryNegative affect is common in diverse patient groups suffering from breathlessness and is related to increased burden because of breathlessness. Future research is required to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these associations together with increased clinical efforts for improved detection and treatment of negative affect in breathless patients.