Abstract
The observation that some asthmatic patients only wheeze at night was described three centuries ago (Floyer, 1698). This phenomenon has, however, only received systematic study in the last decade (Turner-Warwick, 1977; Morgan et al., 1987). There are a large number of possible factors which may account for the now well-documented change in respiratory function during the night in asthmatic patients (Shapiro, 1985). Several studies have shown asthmatic deaths to be more frequent at night (e.g. Benatar and Ainslie, 1986) and recent studies not specifically focussed on time of death of asthmatic patients have yielded similar indications (Potter et al, 1984). This circadian distribution of death from a particular cause is not unique to asthma (Marshall, 1977; Mitler et al., 1987). Specific changes in cardiovascular function both during the sleeping period and associated with the process of awakening have been invoked as causes of nocturnal death (Muller et al., 1985).
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References
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© 1988 The Wenner-Gren Center
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Shapiro, C.M., Douglas, N.J. (1988). Psychophysiology of Asthmatic Patients at Night. In: von Euler, C., Katz-Salamon, M. (eds) Respiratory Psychophysiology. Wenner-Gren Center International Symposium Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10461-1_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10461-1_7
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