Presence of depression in patients with asthma and its influence on their families

Abstract

In this article we examine and review investigations that study the possible presence of depression among patients suffering from bronchial asthma.Throughout the article we provide possible explanations about the relationship between bronchial asthma and depression found in psychological literature along with their possible repercussions in the evolution, morbidity control, and treatment of the illness. Likewise, studies that have investigated depression in families of teenagers and children with bronchial asthma are reviewed. In order to do that, the investigations have been extracted from some of the most widely used databases in Psychology concerning this topic (Web of Knowledge, EBSCO,Psycodoc, Cindoc, Psycarticles and Google Scholar). Finally we offer some reflections about the data analyzed, in the sense that there is enough empirical evidence to confirm that the rates of depression among asthmatic patients and their families are significantly larger than among their asthma-free peers.