Anxiety, well-being and life style in pulmonary patients

Patients with pulmonary diseases, e.g. chronic non-specific lung diseases (CNSLD) such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, suffer from several sometimes frightening complaints (Maillé & Kaptein, 1991). As a consequence, quality of life is severely deteriorated (McSweeny et al., 1982). Adherence to healthy life habits is a way to optimize both physical complaints and emotional functioning. Anxiety influences health promotion behavior (Dahlem et al., 1977). Several studies show that subjective parameters are better predictors of physical endurance and of the use of medical resources than objective parameters (for example, objective indicators of obstruction). Therefore, subjective parameters are important. We investigated the relationship between healthy habits and indicators of well-being, e.g. anxiety, emotional well-being, physical complaints and subjective illness severity. Our sample consisted of 74 patients with CNSLD (mean age 58). Participants were recruited from a pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Subjects with healthy habits differed from those with unhealthy habits in age (p < .05), anxiety (p < .10), and symptoms (p < .01). Men show more health habits than women (p < .05). Anxiety is correlated positively with symptoms (p < .001), and subjective severity (p < .001).