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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis and Tests

Learn More

• Living With
• Related Issues
• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

• Videos and Tutorials

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Older Adults
• Patient Handouts

Summary

When you're short of breath, it's hard or uncomfortable for you to take in the oxygen your body needs. You may feel as if you're not getting enough air. Sometimes you can have mild breathing problems because of a stuffy nose or intense exercise. But shortness of breath can also be a sign of a serious disease.

Many conditions can make you feel short of breath:

• Lung conditions such as asthma, emphysema, or pneumonia
• Problems with your trachea or bronchi, which are part of your airway system
• Heart disease can make you feel breathless if your heart cannot pump enough blood to supply oxygen to your body
• Anxiety and panic attacks
• Allergies

If you often have trouble breathing, it is important to find out the cause.

Start Here

• Breathlessness -- Shortness of Breath (American Thoracic Society) - PDF
• How Your Body Controls Breathing (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish
• Shortness of Breath (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Shortness of Breath (American Heart Association)
• Shortness of Breath (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Symptoms

• What Are Retractions? (Nemours Foundation)

Diagnosis and Tests

• Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) Test (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Bronchoscopy and Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Lung Function Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Respiratory Pathogens Panel (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Shortness of Breath (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Spirometry (American Lung Association)
• Spirometry (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Sputum Culture (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Tests for Lung Disease (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish
• V/Q Scan (National Library of Medicine)
• Wheezing (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Living With

• Minimizing Shortness of Breath (National Jewish Health)
• Pulmonary Rehabilitation: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Shortness of Breath and Eating (National Jewish Health)

Related Issues

• Dyspnea during Advanced Cancer (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
• Humidifiers: Ease Skin, Breathing Symptoms (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)
• Respirator Types and Use (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome (Scoliosis Research Society)

Specifics

• Hypoxemia (Low Blood Oxygen) (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Videos and Tutorials

• Breathing (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Gas exchange (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Dyspnea (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Relationship Between Social Support, Symptom Burden, Dyspnea, Perceived Stress, Perceived Stigma,...
• Article: Four-year respiratory consequences of COVID-19 related pneumonia: a longitudinal cohort study.
• Article: Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in patients with chronic dyspnea.
• Breathing Problems -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American Lung Association
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Children

• Breath-Holding Spells (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn (TTN) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Older Adults

• Caregiver Guide: Breathing Problems (AGS Health in Aging Foundation)

Patient Handouts

• Blood gases (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Breath sounds (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Breathing difficulty (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Breathing difficulty - lying down (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• How to breathe when you are short of breath (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pulmonary function tests (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Rapid shallow breathing (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Wheezing (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish