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Patients with type D personalities tend to experience negative emotions, show social inhibition, and are particularly vulnerable to depression, anxiety and chronic stress. This personality type is also associated with worse symptom control and quality of life in people with asthma, a Korean paper concludes.

Of the 144 asthma patients enrolled, 32.7 per cent met the criteria for type D personality. Although not direct comparisons, the proportion of people with asthma and type D personalities was higher than in previous studies that enrolled people with end-stage renal disease (26 per cent), hypertension (24.7 per cent), coronary heart disease (26.1 per cent), cardiovascular disease (20 per cent) and colorectal cancer (19 per cent).

The authors suggest that, in some cases, chronic asthma might increase vulnerability to stress and other elements of type D personality, while psychosocial interventions might help improve symptom control and quality of life. The study now needs to be repeated in other populations, they say.