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Positive Attitude Good for Lungs: Presented at ATS

By Mike Fillon
Special to DG News

ATLANTA, GA -- May 21, 2002 -- An optimistic outlook on life may improve lung function, according to a study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Channing Laboratory and Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

According to lead researcher, Rosalind J. Wright, MD, MPH, this is the first study to show such a link specifically between optimism and improved lung function over time. Dr. Wright presented the findings here Monday at ATS 2002, the American Thoracic Society's (ATS) 98^th International Conference in Atlanta.

"Previous studies have shown a link between optimism and enhanced well-being," said Dr. Wright. "While pessimism has been shown to be a risk factor for poor physical health."

The researchers theorized that psychological factors may invoke physiologic responses, and in turn, influence key immune processes involved in chronic airway inflammation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The researchers followed 670 men from the Veterans Administration Normative Aging Study, compiled in 1986, for an average of eight years with an average of three lung exams during the study. The men were mostly white, with an average age of 63 years at the beginning of the study. A questionnaire derived from the Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory (MMPI) helped the researchers determined whether each subject was optimistic or pessimistic.

Men with a more optimistic explanatory style had significantly higher levels of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) and forced vital capacity (both p<0.01). In addition, data suggested that optimistic men had a slower rate of FEV₁ decline over time than pessimistic men.

"It has been suggested that pessimistic people may be more likely to smoke to control stress and negative emotions," said Wright. "But we found that optimism was linked to improved lung function even after we took smoking into account."

Dr. Wright said the study suggests there may be reversible factors that may have an impact on patients' long-term rate of lung function decline, which has been shown to be to be related to a person's risk of mortality.

Wright said the researchers are now using study data from a more diverse population to see whether optimism and pessimism have the same effect on lung disease in women, younger people and other races.

The researchers concluded that a person's outlook may somehow influence the body's immune system processes that play a role in the airway inflammation associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

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