Causes of breathlessness

Question 1

What is breathlessness

Answer 1

Undue awareness of breathing (dyspnoea)

Normal with strenuous activity

Question 2

Common causes

Answer 2

Common causes:
– asthma
– chest infection
– being overweight
– smoking
– panic attack

Question 3

Non-cardiorespiratory causes

Answer 3

Obesity

Anaemia

Question 4

Cardiac causes

Answer 4

Left ventricular failure

Mitral valve disease

Heart failure

Cardiomyopathy

Question 5

Respiratory

Answer 5

Airways:
– COPD
– asthma
– foreign body
– lung cancer
– Bronchiectasis

Parenchyma:
– sarcoidosis
– TB
– Pneumonia

Pulmonary circulation:
– pulmonary embolism

Pleural:
– pneumothorax

Chest wall:
– ankylosing spondylitis

Neuromuscular:
– Guillain-Barré syndrome

Question 6

Different modes of onset

Answer 6

Minutes:
– asthma
– inhaled foreign body

Lasting hours-days:
– pneumonia
– asthma
– exacerbation of COPD

Weeks-months:
– anaemia

Lasts months-years:
– COPD
– pulmonary fibrosis
– pulmonary TB

Question 7

Severity of breathlessness

Answer 7

Grade 1- when hurrying on level floor, or going up slight hill

Grade 2- when walking with people of own age, on level ground

Grade 3- have to stop due to breathlessness when walking on level ground at own pace

Question 8

Associated symptoms of breathlessness

Answer 8

No chest pain:
– pulmonary embolism
– pneumothorax

Pleuritic chest pain:
– pneumonia
– pneumothorax
– pulmonary embolism
– rib fracture

Central chest pain:
– MI with left ventricular failure
– massive pulmonary embolism/infarction

Wheeze and cough:
– asthma
–Cough