From: Patient experience of moderate asthma attacks: qualitative research in the USA and Germany
Symptom reported as bothersomeb | Reason (where given) for why symptom reported as bothersome | Supporting quotes |
---|---|---|
Shortness of breath/difficulty breathing (n = 21) | Worry/anxiety (n = 3) | “Um, it just causes me like the most worry and um, yeah, I guess that’s, that’s why that makes it the most bothersome.” (USA-03) |
Fear (n = 3) | “But when this shortness of breath comes, especially if it’s the middle of the day, then it’s super disruptive.” (Germany-31) | |
Limits activity (n = 3) | “And why was that the most bothersome? Just because it’s really hard to breathe.” (USA-03) | |
Panic (n = 2) | ||
Hard to breathe (n = 2) | ||
Disruptive (n = 1) | ||
Annoying (n = 1) | ||
Like suffocating (n = 1) | ||
Scary (n = 1) | ||
Coughing (n = 6) | Aggravating (n = 1) | “…probably the coughing cuz it’s really, it’s like really an intense cough.” (USA-02) |
Intense (n = 1) | “It just gets a harder and harder cough where it makes my chest feel very sore at the end.” (USA-04) | |
Hard coughing leads to chest pain (n = 1) | “What was the most disruptive thing? The coughing.” (Germany-30) | |
Self-conscious (n = 1) | ||
Disruptive (n = 1) | ||
Chest tightness (n = 6) | Cannot continue with daily tasks (n = 1) | “That what makes me feel that sometimes I cannot continue on my daily… it bothers me when I’m doing my daily tasks.” (USA-08) |
Disruptive (n = 1) | “The feeling of tightness in my chest” (Germany-26) | |
Wheezing (n = 4) | Self-conscious (n = 1) | “Everybody can hear you wheezing.” (USA-01) |
More persistent than other symptoms (n = 1) | “Why the wheezing? It was more frequent.” (USA-11) | |
Limits activities (n = 1) | ||
Chest pain/discomfort (n = 2) | Takes a lot out of the patient (n = 1) | “So, like the chest pain, um, that’s just… That, that takes a lot out… So that’s usually the one that I want, want to go away the most.” (USA-13) |