Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsTypes and CausesDiagnosisTreatmentPrevention
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Types and Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Prevention
Dyspnea is shortness of breath that is often described as a feeling of being “hungry for air.” Anyone can become dyspneic with strenuous exercise, and it can also occur as a result of medical problems like lung or heart disease, obesity, or anxiety.
Dyspnea is uncomfortable and it can even be painful. If you experience recurrent, sudden, or severe shortness of breath, you should see a healthcare provider. You may need urgent medical intervention, and long-term management will depend on the cause of your dyspnea.
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Dyspnea Symptoms
Dyspnea can be chronic, gradually worsening and possibly interfering with your physical activity. It can also be acute, occurring suddenly and causing you to feel frightened or overwhelmed. Cases of each can range in severity.
Common symptoms of dyspnea include breathing that is:
You may also experience severe symptoms such as:
Sudden or extreme dyspnea is dangerous and requires emergency medical attention.
There are times when you may notice that someone else is experiencing dyspnea. Someone who is short of breath may appear to be choking or may have very loud breath sounds.
Be sure to call for urgent medical help if you witness any of the following:
Keep in mind that a person who is short of breath might not be aware of the situation or might not be able to ask for help.
Complications
The effects of dyspnea-associated oxygen deprivation can cause confusion or loss of consciousness.
Prolonged oxygen deprivation can also lead to consequences such ashypoxia(low oxygen in the body’s tissues) andhypoxemia(low blood oxygen). Serious issues, including brain damage and kidney failure, can occur due to low oxygen.
Exercise is the most common and harmless cause of dyspnea in a healthy person. When you exercise, your body needs more oxygen. This makes you breathe faster, especially if the activity is more intense than you are used to. This type of dyspnea is nothing to worry about and should improve after a few minutes of rest.
But dyspnea can also occur due to medical problems, including certain diseases and conditions.
Acute Dyspnea
Some illnesses cause sudden episodes of dyspnea with completely normal breathing between episodes.
You can develop intermittent or acute dyspnea due to:
Chronic Dyspnea
Chronic dyspnea generally progresses over time. As it worsens, you might feel short of breath with moderate activities like climbing stairs.
The most common causes of chronic dyspnea include:
You are likely to have chronic dyspnea with lung or heart disease because these conditions interfere with your body’s oxygen supply. Obesity and systemic illnesses increase your body’s oxygen demands, which can also make you feel short of breath.
Chronic dyspnea can also flare up with exposure to cigarette smoke and environmental fumes. And you can also experience fluctuations in your chronic dyspnea due to problems like a respiratory infection.
Dyspnea can be related to your body position, and some people with heart disease only experience it whenbending overbecause this position changes the airflow dynamics in the body.
Sometimes chronic illnesses only cause dyspnea at night when your muscles are more related and you may have less respiratory effort. This is described asnocturnal dyspnea.
Risk Factors
Some people are at high risk of dyspnea. Young babies, older adults, and anyone who has a major health problem is susceptible to shortness of breath, even from a mild respiratory infection.
Pregnant people may experience dyspnea with mild exertion or even at rest. Increased oxygen demands, physical pressure on the lungs as a result of the growing uterus, and hormonal influences contribute to dyspnea during pregnancy.
Dyspnea is diagnosed with an evaluation of your breathing pattern. The immediate effects—such as low oxygen levels—are assessed with diagnostic tests. Your medical team will also evaluate you to identify the cause of your dyspnea, but that part of your diagnosis may come after your immediate situation is stabilized.
Urgent Assessment
When you are short of breath, your practitioner may begin your medical evaluation with a physical examination, especially if you are not able to answer questions to provide a medical history.
Your breathing rate, heart rate, and the intensity of your pulse will be checked. Your healthcare provider will look to see if you are gasping for air or using accessory muscles to breathe.
What Is a Normal Breathing Rate?
Your oxygen level will be measured withpulse oximetryorarterial blood gas. If there is any concern that you could be having a heart attack or have unstable heart disease, you may need anelectrocardiogram (EKG). You may also need an urgent chest X-ray if there is a concern about pneumonia or another lung disease.
Medical History
Once you are stable, your medical team will ask questions such as whether you experience dyspnea during activity or at rest, and whether it comes on suddenly or slowly. Your healthcare provider will want to know if you had any specific exposures before you developed dyspnea, such as to pollen or food that you might be sensitive to.
Certain risk factors, such as a history of smoking, can help your practitioner rule out some conditions and give more consideration to others.
The severity of your dyspnea can also be graded on themodified Medical Research Council (mMRC) scale, which is based on your description of symptoms. Your MRC dyspnea grade can be used to assess the severity of your condition, as well as the impact of your treatment.
If you have COPD, your mMRC grade can be used as part of yourBODE index score, which calculates the risk of death based onbody mass index(BMI), obstruction (calculated usingFEV1value after using a bronchodilator), MRC dyspnea scale, and exercise ability (six-minute walking distance).
BMI is a dated, flawed measure. It does not take into account factors such asbody composition, ethnicity, sex, race, and age. Even though it is abiased measure, BMI is still widely used in the medical community because it’s an inexpensive and quick way to analyze a person’s potential health status and outcomes.
Diagnostic Tests
Further diagnostic testing may be needed to assess your lung health and to identify medical illnesses that cause dyspnea.
Tests that you might have include:
Urgently, interventions to help you breathe and maintain proper oxygen levels may be necessary. After that, treating the underlying cause of your dyspnea becomes paramount.
Medication
The proper drug treatment, if any, for your dyspnea depends on the cause in your case.
Your healthcare provider will treat your infection with antibiotics if you develop dyspnea due to a condition like bacterial pneumonia. Dyspnea due to heart failure may be treated withdiuretics, which are medications that help the body eliminate excess fluid.
Bronchodilator or Steroid Inhaler: Which Comes First?
Surgical Procedures and Interventions
More extensive surgery may be required to remove blood due to severe chest trauma or to remove a tumor in the lung.
A condition like a pulmonary embolus can require intravenous (IV) medical treatment with blood thinners as well as a procedure, such as interventional treatment with thrombolytics, which are powerful medications used to directly break up the blood clot.
You may also need respiratory support as you are recovering from dyspnea of any cause.
Oxygen and Respiratory Assistance
In some cases, oxygen supplementation can be helpful while you are recovering. And in a severe situation when you are not able to adequately breathe on your own, mechanically assisted breathing may be necessary withnon-invasive pressure ventilationorintubation.
When to Consider Oxygen Therapy for COPD
If you have chronic dyspnea due to a condition such as heart failure, lung disease, or obesity, then the strategy for preventing yourself from developing dyspnea (or making your dyspnea worse) is centered on disease management, typically with prescription medication.
In other cases, avoiding triggers may also be essential. For example, if you already know that you have asthma or allergies, or you experience panic attacks, taking daily medication to manage your condition and making an effort to avoid triggers whenever possible will help prevent episodes of dyspnea.
As such, a combination of prevention strategies may be necessary.
Lifestyle Management
When obesity is contributing to your dyspnea, weight loss can make a big difference in helping you breathe easier. Exercise can increase your muscle strength and prevent a decline of heart and lung conditions so that you will be less prone to dyspnea and less dependent on medications.
And if you smoke, quit. The habit can cause COPD and heart disease, and smoking can trigger asthma attacks and COPD exacerbations.
If you become short of breath when active, building up physical endurance with consistent training will help you exercise with more intensity before you become dyspneic.
Regulating Anxiety
If an anxiety disorder or panic attacks are causing you to experience dyspnea, cognitive behavioral therapy and/or medication can help prevent your episodes.
You might not realize that stressaboutyour dyspnea can make it worse. Disease-specific fears about exercise, shortness of breath, social exclusion, or a decline in your condition can interfere with rehabilitation and physical therapy, resulting in the progression of the disease. And these fears can amplify your shortness of breath, making an acute episode more severe.
If anxiety is playing a role in your dyspnea, discuss your feelings with your medical team. A combination of medication, counseling, and behavioral management can help reduce the impact of anxiety on your dyspnea.
A Word From Verywell
If you notice severe and sudden shortness of breath, you should get emergency medical attention. Dyspnea can be treated, and you will also need a long-term plan for prevention if you have a condition that predisposes you to this issue.
7 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.Berliner D, Schneider N, Welte T, Bauersachs J.The differential diagnosis of dyspnea.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016;113(49):834–845. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2016.0834Williams N.The MRC breathlessness scale.Occup Med (Lond). 2017;67(6):496-497. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqx086Esteban C, Quintana JM, Moraza J, et al.BODE-Index vs HADO-score in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Which one to use in general practice?.BMC Med. 2010;8:28.doi:10.1186/1741-7015-8-28Wahls SA.Causes and evaluation of chronic dyspnea.Am Fam Physician; 86(2):173-82.Nishino T.Dyspnoea: Underlying mechanisms and treatment.Br J Anaesth. 2011;106(4):463-74. doi:10.1093/bja/aer040American College of Chest Physicians.Shortness of Breath.Janssens T, Van de moortel Z, Geidl W, et al.Impact of disease-specific fears on pulmonary rehabilitation trajectories in patients with COPD.J Clin Med.2019;8(9). doi:10.3390/jcm8091460
7 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.Berliner D, Schneider N, Welte T, Bauersachs J.The differential diagnosis of dyspnea.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016;113(49):834–845. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2016.0834Williams N.The MRC breathlessness scale.Occup Med (Lond). 2017;67(6):496-497. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqx086Esteban C, Quintana JM, Moraza J, et al.BODE-Index vs HADO-score in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Which one to use in general practice?.BMC Med. 2010;8:28.doi:10.1186/1741-7015-8-28Wahls SA.Causes and evaluation of chronic dyspnea.Am Fam Physician; 86(2):173-82.Nishino T.Dyspnoea: Underlying mechanisms and treatment.Br J Anaesth. 2011;106(4):463-74. doi:10.1093/bja/aer040American College of Chest Physicians.Shortness of Breath.Janssens T, Van de moortel Z, Geidl W, et al.Impact of disease-specific fears on pulmonary rehabilitation trajectories in patients with COPD.J Clin Med.2019;8(9). doi:10.3390/jcm8091460
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.
Berliner D, Schneider N, Welte T, Bauersachs J.The differential diagnosis of dyspnea.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016;113(49):834–845. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2016.0834Williams N.The MRC breathlessness scale.Occup Med (Lond). 2017;67(6):496-497. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqx086Esteban C, Quintana JM, Moraza J, et al.BODE-Index vs HADO-score in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Which one to use in general practice?.BMC Med. 2010;8:28.doi:10.1186/1741-7015-8-28Wahls SA.Causes and evaluation of chronic dyspnea.Am Fam Physician; 86(2):173-82.Nishino T.Dyspnoea: Underlying mechanisms and treatment.Br J Anaesth. 2011;106(4):463-74. doi:10.1093/bja/aer040American College of Chest Physicians.Shortness of Breath.Janssens T, Van de moortel Z, Geidl W, et al.Impact of disease-specific fears on pulmonary rehabilitation trajectories in patients with COPD.J Clin Med.2019;8(9). doi:10.3390/jcm8091460
Berliner D, Schneider N, Welte T, Bauersachs J.The differential diagnosis of dyspnea.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016;113(49):834–845. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2016.0834
Williams N.The MRC breathlessness scale.Occup Med (Lond). 2017;67(6):496-497. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqx086
Esteban C, Quintana JM, Moraza J, et al.BODE-Index vs HADO-score in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Which one to use in general practice?.BMC Med. 2010;8:28.doi:10.1186/1741-7015-8-28
Wahls SA.Causes and evaluation of chronic dyspnea.Am Fam Physician; 86(2):173-82.
Nishino T.Dyspnoea: Underlying mechanisms and treatment.Br J Anaesth. 2011;106(4):463-74. doi:10.1093/bja/aer040
American College of Chest Physicians.Shortness of Breath.
Janssens T, Van de moortel Z, Geidl W, et al.Impact of disease-specific fears on pulmonary rehabilitation trajectories in patients with COPD.J Clin Med.2019;8(9). doi:10.3390/jcm8091460
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