More than half of people with asthma report that their symptoms are brought on by laughter, according to a study to be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 24. The study of 235 patients with asthma found that 56% had laughter-induced asthma (LIA). Asthma that is triggered by laughter doesn’t seem to cause more asthma flare-ups requiring emergency room visits or hospitalizations compared with other types of asthma, according to study author Stuart Garay, M.D., Clinical Professor of Medicine at NYU Medical Center in New York. “But patients did report that during times when their asthma is well controlled they can laugh for longer without getting asthma symptoms. That suggests that laughter-induced asthma may be a sign that a person’s asthma isn’t as well controlled as it could be. People with asthma should be allowed to laugh.”
