Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

E P Sarafino

Publications and source records attributed to E P Sarafino.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The role of age at asthma diagnosis in the development of triggers of asthma episodes.

This study examined the relationship of age at asthma diagnosis to the subsequent impacts of 12 common asthma triggers, which we classified as either mainly physically based or strongly psychosocially mediated. The physically based triggers were air pollution, cigarette smoke, high humidity, high/low environmental temperature, allergy problems, respiratory infection, physical activity, and nighttime hours; the psychosocially mediated triggers were stress or worry, anger, excitement, and laughter. Data were collected with questionnaires from families with asthmatic children (n=115), 2 to 20 years of age, as part of a larger study of biological and psychosocial factors in asthma and other illnesses. Using parents' reports, we classified the children as early-diagnosed (before age 2) or later-diagnosed (at or after 2) for asthma and compared these groups, separated by gender, in 2 x 2 multivariate analyses. The impacts of all four psychosocially mediated triggers on asthma attacks were significantly greater for the later-diagnosed children than the early-diagnosed children. No age of diagnosis differences were found for any of the physically based triggers, and no gender or interaction effects were found for either type of trigger.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2000

Age comparisons in acquiring biofeedback control and success in reducing headache pain.

This article presents a review and archival analysis to assess age differences in acquiring biofeedback control and success in treating recurrent headache by using data from 56 studies with either adult (total N = 503) or child (total N = 98) subjects. All studies focused on treating headache with temperature biofeedback (TBF) or electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback. To standardize the varied measures across studies, we calculated each study's percent change scores for biofeedback performance and headache activity. All headache activity scores included assessments of pain intensity. We then calculated subject-weighted means of percent change for biofeedback performance and for headache activity by summing the products of each relevant percent change score and N and then dividing by the total number of subjects contributing to those sums. Results showed that both children and adults reported substantial improvements in headache activity with TBF and EMG biofeedback treatment (Ms ranged from 34% to 81%), but children showed significantly greater improvement than adults. No age differences were found in the acquisition of biofeedback control. Further analyses revealed two additional findings. First, biofeedback control and headache improvement were strongly correlated. Second, headache activity continued to decrease in the weeks following treatment, and this decrease was significantly greater for children than adults.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Connections among parent and child atopic illnesses.

This study investigated parent-child connections for the atopic illnesses of asthma, eczema, food allergies, and hay fever, in a sample of 325 families. Parents reported whether they or their children currently had each condition and rated the frequency and intensity of its episodes; these ratings were combined to estimate illness severity. The data revealed five main findings. First, chi-square parent-child concordance analyses indicated that children of parents with any of the atopic illnesses studied were significantly more likely to develop that same disease than were children of parents without the illness. Second, children were progressively more likely to have at least one atopic illness when the number of their parents who were atopic increased from zero to two. Third, the number of atopic illnesses in the children was associated with the number of atopic illnesses in the parents. These three findings augment the evidence for genetic factors in the development of atopic illnesses and suggest that the atopies of each parent may contribute to an aggregate, generalized risk for their children. Fourth, maternal atopy was more strongly related to the children's asthma and hay fever than paternal atopy. Fifth, the severity of the children's specific atopic illnesses was not affected by the number of their parents who had the same condition and was not strongly related to the severity of their parents' condition.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Tests of the relationship between children's temperament and asthma and of the reliability and validity of the Brief Scale of Temperament.

Two studies are reported. One examined the reliability and validity of a brief scale to measure children's temperament; the other tested the relationship of early temperament and the development of asthma. In Study 1, principal caretakers of 46 4- to 7-year-olds, usually the mothers, filled out questionnaires containing the Brief Scale of Temperament (BST) and the Behavioral Style Questionnaire. The caretakers did this twice, about 1 week apart. The first time the children's recent temperament was assessed, and the second time past (> 1 year) temperament was assessed. Internal consistency and correlational analyses revealed substantial reliability and validity for BST assessments of recent and past temperament. Study 2 incorporated the BST in a large-scale survey of 325 families, with parents providing data on their children's asthma and temperament. BST assessments of early (past) temperament were made retrospectively regarding the child's first few years. Comparisons of early temperament revealed no differences between children who developed asthma and those who did not in their overall scores on the BST or for any of the temperament characteristics it measures. In addition, correlational analyses of data for asthmatics showed that early temperament was not related to ratings of the severity of the asthma condition the children developed or the impacts of any of 12 specific asthma triggers, including any involving emotional states, such as stress or worry.

Asthma↗
PubMed1999

The Hassles Assessment Scale for Students in College: measuring the frequency and unpleasantness of and dwelling on stressful events.

Development of the Hassles Assessment Scale for Students in College, a new scale to measure students' stress, is described. In the scale, students rate each of 54 hassles for its frequency and unpleasantness in the past month and indicate the degree to which they dwelt or ruminated on it. Very high levels of internal consistency for the frequency, unpleasantness, and dwelling measures were found. Correlational analyses demonstrated the scale's criterion validity (scores were negatively correlated with the number of hours respondents reported engaging in physical exercise) and congruent validity (scores were positively correlated with scores on the Inventory of College Students' Recent Life Experience, an established scale for assessing student hassles). Exploratory factor analyses suggested the possibility that many items on the scale are independent, with each contributing some specific variance to the total variance of the item pool that is not shared with other items.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1998

Age and the impacts of triggers in childhood asthma.

This study examined the relationships among age (2-20 years) and the impacts of 12 common triggers in episodes of childhood asthma. The triggers were: air pollution, allergy problems, cigarette smoke, stress or worry, anger, excitement, laughter, high/low environmental temperature, high humidity, respiratory infection, nighttime hours, and physical activity. Data were analyzed from families with asthmatic children (n = 119) as part of a larger study of biological and psychosocial factors in asthma and other illnesses. Positive correlations were found for age and the trigger impacts of allergy problems (p = 0.025) and physical activity (p = 0.004); negative correlations were found for age and the trigger impacts of nighttime hours (p = 0.002) and respiratory infection (p = 0.002). Age was also negatively correlated with the frequency of recent respiratory infections (p = 0.000) and positively correlated with the intensity of hay fever episodes (p = 0.047). These findings indicate that as children with asthma get older, their asthma episodes are more likely to be influenced by allergy problems and physical activity, and less likely to be associated with nighttime hours and respiratory infections.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Relationships among respiratory infections, triggers of attacks, and asthma severity in children.

The present study of asthmatic children examined relationships among the frequencies of prior respiratory infections (i.e., those prior to the development of asthma) and recent (past year) respiratory infections, asthma severity, and the impacts of 12 common asthma triggers: air pollution, allergy problems, anger, cigarette smoke, excitement, high humidity, high or low environmental temperature, laughter, nighttime hours, physical activity, respiratory infection, and stress or worry. Data on these variables were obtained through a survey in which 325 families completed questionnaires; 121 families had asthmatic children who were 2-20 years of age. Pearson correlational analyses revealed many significant positive correlations: The frequencies of prior and recent infections were correlated. The frequency of prior infections was correlated with the impacts of all asthma triggers except allergy problems, but the frequency of recent infections was correlated only with the impacts of air pollution, cigarette smoke, respiratory infection, and nighttime hours as triggers of asthma attacks. Asthma severity was correlated with the frequencies of prior and recent respiratory infections and with the impact of respiratory infection as an asthma trigger.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Genetic factors in the presence, severity, and triggers of asthma.

The role of heredity in the presence of asthma, severity of the condition, and impact of 12 specific triggers of attacks was investigated. Health surveys containing questions about children's asthma characteristics were completed by 325 families with twin children across the United States. Data for 39 monozygotic twin pairs and 55 same sex dizygotic twin pairs who were between 2 and 20 years of age and had asthma present in at least one member of each pair were received and analysed. Results revealed higher concordance for the presence of asthma among monozygotic (58.97%; n = 23) than dizygotic twins (23.64%; n = 13). Further analyses were restricted to data from the concordant monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs. Asthma severity (the product of attack frequency and intensity ratings) was significantly correlated for monozygotic pairs but not for dizygotic pairs, and this difference in monozygotic and dizygotic severity correlations was significant. Also, monozygotic twins showed significantly higher correlations than dizygotic twins for the impacts of two asthma triggers: respiratory infection and physical activity. These results indicate a role of heredity in the presence of asthma and suggest that genetic factors may also affect the severity of children's asthma condition and the impact of respiratory infection and physical exertion as asthma triggers.

Adolescent↗