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
- Airway obstruction
- Structural
- Infectious
- Other
Cardiac
- Congenital heart disease
- Vascular ring
- Cardiac tamponade
- Congestive Heart Failure (peds)
- Myocarditis (peds)
Other diseases with abnormal respiration
- Normal neonatal periodic breathing (misinterpreted by caregivers as abnormal)
- Brief resolved unexplained event
- Anemia
- Abdominal distension (e.g. SBO, liver failure
- Neonatal abstinence syndrome
- Decreased perfusion states
- Metabolic acidosis
- CO Poisoning
- Diaphragm injury
- Renal Failure
- Electrolyte abnormalities
- Organophosphate toxicity
- Tick paralysis
- Fever (Peds)
- Panic attack
- Porphyria