Abstract # 3150 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training improves disease control and reduces reactivity in affective neurocircuitry in asthmatic individuals

Abstract

Stress and emotion contribute to the frequency and severity of asthma symptoms. Yet, research directed toward understanding and managing the pathophysiology of asthma has neglected the brain almost entirely. Here, we examined changes in responsivity of emotion-related neural circuitry and asthma control produced by Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), relative to a wait-list control group (WL). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an asthma-specific variant of the Stroop Task where participants identified the color of asthma-related, negative, and neutral words. Asthma control assessments combined self-reported symptoms with medication use and objective measures of lung function. In preliminary results, the MBSR group showed improvements in asthma control relative to controls. The MBSR group also showed a time x valence interaction in a region spanning the lateral orbitofrontal and inferior frontal gyri, such that response to asthma compared to neutral words decreased post-MBSR training. This region is thought to be a convergence zone for processing semantic and emotional content and is closely related to the function of its neighbor, the anterior insula. Across all participants, the greater the reduction in responsivity in this region, the greater the improvement in asthma control. These data may reflect a decrease in the salience intensity of asthma-related words as emotional reactivity abates and/or asthma control improves, and suggest a potential mechanism through which MBSR leads to improvements in asthma management.