Paediatric Palliative Care Guidelines
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Edition/Revision: 1.0
Archived

Definition of dyspnoea - Archived

“The sense that breathing has become unpleasant”

Dyspnoea is therefore, by definition, a subjective phenomenon.  Many different factors can contribute to dyspnoea.  These include:

  • Physical factors (fluid, tumour, weakness, injury).
  • Psychosocial factors (fears about function, inability to carry out normal tasks such as walking or feeding).
  • Existential or spiritual factors (interference with respiratory function carries implication of immenent death, fear of suffocation).

It is important to remember that there is only limited correlation between the observation of disordered breathing (for example tachypnoea) and the experience of dyspnoea.  Breathing can be unpleasant without being abnormal, and can be abnormal without being unpleasant.

Edition/Revision: 1.0
Created 18 Jul 2013 - Archived
Validated 19 Jul 2013 by Ian Back
Last modified 29 Mar 2024
Fri 29 Mar 2024 12:37:25 GMT
Last modified 29 Mar 2024