Acute dyspnea (peds)

This page is for pediatric patients. For adult patients, see: acute dyspnea.

Background

  • Breathing complaints common in pediatrics
  • Infants/children have higher predisposition to respiratory failure relative to adults
    • Higher resting metabolic rate requires more oxygen
    • Anatomical differences (e.g. smaller diameter airways) predispose to respiratory failure
    • Vast majority of pediatric cardiac arrests are secondary to respiratory problem
  • Included here are other respiratory chief complaints, such as tachypnea, irregular breathing, abnormal respiratory sounds or appearance, cyanosis, which parents may have noticed

Clinical Features

Differential diagnosis

Pediatric Shortness of Breath

Pulmonary/airway

Cardiac

Other diseases with abnormal respiration

Evaluation

Management

Disposition

See Also

External Links

References