Interoceptive Awareness, Psychological Distress, and Somatic Symptoms in Adults with Asthma: A Cross-Sectional Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58600/eurjther3109Keywords:
asthma, asthma control, interoception, psychological distress, somatizationAbstract
Objective: To examine interoceptive awareness, psychological distress, and somatic symptom burden in adults with asthma compared with healthy controls, and to investigate their associations with asthma control.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included 136 participants, comprising 64 patients with asthma and 72 healthy controls. All participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), and the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness-2 (MAIA-2). Asthma control in the patient group was assessed using the Asthma Control Test (ACT).
Results: Patients with asthma had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and somatic symptoms than healthy controls. Although total interoceptive awareness scores did not differ significantly between groups, patients with asthma showed higher scores in the attention regulation and body listening subdomains and lower trust in bodily sensations. Within the asthma group, uncontrolled asthma was associated with higher psychological distress, greater somatic symptom burden, and altered interoceptive awareness patterns. ACT scores were negatively correlated with psychological distress, somatic symptoms, and the MAIA-2 Noticing subscale, whereas they were positively correlated with the Attention Regulation subscale. In multivariable analysis, MAIA-2 Noticing was negatively associated with ACT scores, whereas Attention Regulation was positively associated with ACT scores.
Conclusion: Adults with asthma experience greater psychological distress and somatic symptom burden than healthy controls, together with differences in specific dimensions of interoceptive awareness. These findings suggest that psychological and interoceptive factors may be relevant to asthma control and support a multidimensional approach to asthma assessment.
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