An asthma patient with steroid-resistant decrease in peak expiratory flow after the Great East Japan earthquake showing spontaneous recovery after 1 month.

Shintaro Yanagimoto, Michiko Haida, Matsunobu Suko

Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tokyo Hospital, Japan. yanagimoto@hc.u-tokyo.ac

Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) 2012

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People living in Japan were affected in various ways after the Great East Japan earthquake of March 11, 2011. A 52-year-old female asthma patient not directly affected by the disaster experienced a decrease in peak expiratory flow (PEF) immediately after the earthquake. Despite increasing the inhaled and oral corticosteroid doses, her PEF did not recover. One month later, her PEF level abruptly returned to normal with minimal medications, which were previously ineffective, and the asthma-related symptoms vanished. The stabilization of her state of mind and actual social state seemed to be a part of the reason for the patient's recovery.

Citation

Shintaro Yanagimoto, Michiko Haida, Matsunobu Suko. An asthma patient with steroid-resistant decrease in peak expiratory flow after the Great East Japan earthquake showing spontaneous recovery after 1 month. Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan). 2012;51(12):1631-4