Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat is ARDS?Is ARDS Contagious?CausesRisk FactorsSymptomsComplicationsDiagnosisTreatmentOutlookPreventionSeeking Medical Care
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What is ARDS?
Is ARDS Contagious?
Causes
Risk Factors
Symptoms
Complications
Diagnosis
Treatment
Outlook
Prevention
Seeking Medical Care
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a serious complication you could experience after some types of respiratory infections or trauma. When this complication develops, your lungs become inflamed and can fill with fluid and secretions that make breathing even more difficult.
This article will review some of the causes of ARDS and what to expect if you develop this problem.
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How Serious Is ARDS?ARDS accounts for 1 in 10 intensive care unit admissions, and between 46% and 60% of people hospitalized with ARDS do not survive. Those who survive face ongoing problems like permanent lung damage, depression, and other organ damage.
How Serious Is ARDS?
ARDS accounts for 1 in 10 intensive care unit admissions, and between 46% and 60% of people hospitalized with ARDS do not survive. Those who survive face ongoing problems like permanent lung damage, depression, and other organ damage.
Lung Health
What Is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome?
ARDS is a severe respiratory condition that causes severe lung inflammation, limiting blood oxygenation and waste exchange.
Your lungs contain tiny sacs calledalveolithat fill with air each time you breathe, allowing oxygen to move from the air you breathe into your bloodstream and moving gaseous waste gases out of your blood through exhalation.
With ARDS, swelling and inflammation can cause these alveoli to become stiff, then burst and leak fluid, limiting how much oxygen and waste gases can be exchanged between your blood and the air you breathe.
ARDS can develop suddenly or over several days and usually progresses through the following three phases.
ARDS is not contagious because it’s not an infection. Instead, it’s a severe but delayed reaction to a previous illness or injury. However, if you’ve developed ARDS from arespiratory infection, you may still be contagious with that illness and could pass it to others. But the ARDS response alone is not contagious.
What Causes ARDS?
ARDS is your body’s inflammatory immune response after an initial infection or injury. There are many possible triggers of ARDS, but the most common underlying causes include things like:
If you develop ARDS after an infection, your healthcare provider will continue to treat the underlying illness or injury as well as the effects of ARDS.
ARDS Risk Factors
Anyone can develop ARDS, but certain people are at a higher risk than others.
Some things that can increase your risk of developing ARDS after an injury or infection include:
Symptoms of ARDS
The main symptoms specific to ARDS are severe shortness of breath (dyspnea) and a low oxygen level in your blood (hypoxemia).
Complications From ARDS
ARDS can lead to acute respiratory failure. When this happens, the injury and damage in your lungs are so severe that you may not be able to breathe on your own withoutsupport.
Symptoms of acute respiratory failure can include:
If you’re experiencing any of the above symptoms, seek emergency medical attention. Failure to treat ARDS effectively at this stage could put you on a path for additional complications like permanent lung damage, blood clots, multiple organ failure, and even death.
How ARDS Is Diagnosed
Your healthcare team will diagnose ARDS after reviewing several measures, including your respiratory rate and oxygen saturation level. A chest X-ray is the primary diagnostic tool that helps differentiate ARDS from other heart and lung problems. Your healthcare provider will look at the X-ray for visible inflammation on both sides of the chest without another known cause.
Your healthcare team may do additional testing to rule out other chronic heart or lung issues that could cause lung fluid buildup.
Symptoms and Causes of Pulmonary Edema
Treating and Managing ARDS
Although ARDS treatment may target the underlying injury or infection, the inflammatory response and accompanying respiratory failure are treated separately. The overall goal of ARDS treatment is to support your breathing while your lung tissue heals and recovers.
Oxygen
Oxygen therapy is the primary treatment for ARDS. Your damaged alveoli can’t move oxygen into your bloodstream effectively, so your healthcare team will focus on increasing the amount of oxygen in your tissues.
This can mean a small amount of oxygen through anasal cannula, higher flow devices, or even mechanical ventilation through a breathing tube in your mouth. If yourequire a ventilatorto manage your ARDS, your healthcare team willcustomize the pressureand oxygen levels to support your oxygen requirements and promote lung healing.
When Oxygen Isn’t EnoughEven withmechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy isn’t always enough to support your breathing with ARDS. You may need to be placed in the prone position (on your belly) to reduce the pressure your lungs need to overcome during inflation.Prone positioning is a part of what’s known as the five p’s of ARDS treatment, which includes:Perfusion(ensuring oxygen is moved into your blood and through your body)Protectivelung ventilation (ventilator support)Positioning(prone)Protocolweaning (reducing ventilator support gradually until you can breathe on your own)Preventionof complications (turning to prevent pressure injuries, nutrition support, and more)
When Oxygen Isn’t Enough
Even withmechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy isn’t always enough to support your breathing with ARDS. You may need to be placed in the prone position (on your belly) to reduce the pressure your lungs need to overcome during inflation.Prone positioning is a part of what’s known as the five p’s of ARDS treatment, which includes:Perfusion(ensuring oxygen is moved into your blood and through your body)Protectivelung ventilation (ventilator support)Positioning(prone)Protocolweaning (reducing ventilator support gradually until you can breathe on your own)Preventionof complications (turning to prevent pressure injuries, nutrition support, and more)
Even withmechanical ventilation, oxygen therapy isn’t always enough to support your breathing with ARDS. You may need to be placed in the prone position (on your belly) to reduce the pressure your lungs need to overcome during inflation.
Prone positioning is a part of what’s known as the five p’s of ARDS treatment, which includes:
Managing Fluids
With fluids already building in your lungs during ARDS, your healthcare provider may also treat you with medications likediureticsto help remove extra fluid and swelling from your body.You may also receive intravenous fluids or fluids and nutrition through a feeding tube if you need ventilator support for more than a few days.
Medication
You may already be receivingantiviralorantibioticmedications to treat the condition that triggered your ARDS. However, your healthcare provider may administer additional medications as needed, such asblood thinnersto prevent blood clots andsteroidsto reduce inflammation.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Even after recovery from ARDS, you will likely need ongoing therapy to regain your previous lung function. This may include physical therapy, breathing exercises, and ongoing respiratory support.
Long-Term Outlook for ARDS
People who survive ARDS may continue to experience adverse impacts on their quality of life. Lung function may eventually return to normal (usually within five years), but there are other long-term effects on your body.
The therapies used to treat ARDS—such as mechanical ventilation and proning—are also difficult to endure, and survivors may struggle with psychological issues likepost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)even after recovery.
Can You Prevent ARDS?
Not every episode of ARDS can be prevented entirely, but if you fall into one of the high-risk categories, you can take steps to minimize your chances of developing ARDS. This may include things like:
If you know you have a high risk of developing ARDS, it’s also essential to address any respiratory infections early and seek treatment from a healthcare provider.
When to Contact a Healthcare Provider
First Aid Instructions for 10 Medical Emergencies
Summary
ARDS is a serious complication that can develop after a severe respiratory infection or injury. It happens when the tiny air sacs in your lungs get damaged, burst, and can’t effectively move oxygen into your bloodstream. ARDS often requires mechanical ventilation and other invasive treatments, and mortality rates are high.
Even after recovery, you may have ongoing breathing issues. Talk to a healthcare provider about your risk factors for ARDS and what you can do to prevent it.
9 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Lung Association.Learn about ARDS.Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;15;101(12):730-738. PMID: 32538594.Ware L.Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).BMJ Best Practice. October 2023.National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: causes and risk factors.National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: symptoms.Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;101(12):730-738.American Lung Association.ARDS symptoms and diagnosis.Berngard SC, Beitler JR, Malhotra A.Personalizing mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory distress syndrome.J Thorac Dis. 2016;8(3):E172-E174. doi:10.21037/jtd.2016.02.57American Nurses Association.The five Ps spell positive outcomes for ARDS patients.
9 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.American Lung Association.Learn about ARDS.Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;15;101(12):730-738. PMID: 32538594.Ware L.Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).BMJ Best Practice. October 2023.National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: causes and risk factors.National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: symptoms.Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;101(12):730-738.American Lung Association.ARDS symptoms and diagnosis.Berngard SC, Beitler JR, Malhotra A.Personalizing mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory distress syndrome.J Thorac Dis. 2016;8(3):E172-E174. doi:10.21037/jtd.2016.02.57American Nurses Association.The five Ps spell positive outcomes for ARDS patients.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
American Lung Association.Learn about ARDS.Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;15;101(12):730-738. PMID: 32538594.Ware L.Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).BMJ Best Practice. October 2023.National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: causes and risk factors.National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: symptoms.Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;101(12):730-738.American Lung Association.ARDS symptoms and diagnosis.Berngard SC, Beitler JR, Malhotra A.Personalizing mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory distress syndrome.J Thorac Dis. 2016;8(3):E172-E174. doi:10.21037/jtd.2016.02.57American Nurses Association.The five Ps spell positive outcomes for ARDS patients.
American Lung Association.Learn about ARDS.
Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;15;101(12):730-738. PMID: 32538594.
Ware L.Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).BMJ Best Practice. October 2023.
National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: causes and risk factors.
National Institutes of Health.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: symptoms.
Saguil A, Fargo MV.Acute respiratory distress syndrome: diagnosis and management.Am Fam Physician. 2020;101(12):730-738.
American Lung Association.ARDS symptoms and diagnosis.
Berngard SC, Beitler JR, Malhotra A.Personalizing mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory distress syndrome.J Thorac Dis. 2016;8(3):E172-E174. doi:10.21037/jtd.2016.02.57
American Nurses Association.The five Ps spell positive outcomes for ARDS patients.
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