Abstract
The perception of respiratory sensations plays an important role both in respiratory diseases and in anxiety disorders. However, little is known about the neural processes underlying respiratory sensory perception, especially in patient groups. Therefore, the present study examined whether patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) would demonstrate altered respiratory sensory gating compared to a healthy control group. Respiratory-related evoked potentials (RREP) were measured in a paired inspiratory occlusion paradigm presenting two brief occlusion stimuli (S1 and S2) within one inspiration. The results showed a significantly greater S2/S1 ratio for the N1 component of the RREP in the GAD group compared to the control group. Our findings suggest altered respiratory sensory processing in patients with GAD, which might contribute to altered perception of respiratory sensations in these patients.
Highlights
The experience of respiratory sensations plays an important role in respiratory diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and in anxiety disorders
This study demonstrates that the paired inspiratory occlusion paradigm is a feasible measure for investigating respiratory sensory gating function in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients
The results demonstrate that individuals with GAD, compared to healthy controls (HCs), show a higher Respiratory-related evoked potentials (RREP) N1 S2/S1 ratio, which is suggestive of reduced respiratory sensory gating
Summary
The experience of respiratory sensations plays an important role in respiratory diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and in anxiety disorders. Previous studies have demonstrated that negative affective states and traits including anxiety are related to over-perception of respiratory sensations irrespective of underlying ventilatory changes (Carr et al, 1994; Zaubler and Katon, 1996; Bogaerts et al, 2005; von Leupoldt and Dahme, 2007; von Leupoldt et al, 2013). Few of the aforementioned studies used objective measures for respiratory perception, and the neural mechanisms that underlie the interrelationships between anxiety and increased perception of respiratory sensations are poorly understood (von Leupoldt et al, 2013). The respiratory-related evoked potential (RREP) is a useful non-invasive electrophysiological method for studying the effects of anxiety on respiratory perception and its neural processing (von Leupoldt et al, 2013).
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