Today, we are going to be discussing how to determine the differential diagnosis for dyspnea in the primary care setting. Let’s start by discussing what dyspnea really is because most patients do not present to the office saying, “I’m having dyspnea on exertion.”

Dyspnea is a subjective symptom from the patient that has varied meanings to many individuals, so it is important to really understand the context of the complaint ……………….. breathlessness, suffocation or smothering, air hunger and winded.

1. Complaints of dyspnea can include the following:
2. Common cardiopulmonary conditions include
3. Noncardiopulmonary causes should also be considered and include
4. Dyspnea can be classified into flow or volume disorders, and the underlying cause can be from an intra- or extrathorax problem.
5. Intrathorax flowdisorders originate from obstruction of distal/smaller airways and include
6. Examples of the extrathorax flow disorders, which originate from obstruction of the larger airways, include
7. Examples of intrathorax volumedisorders include lung parenchyma disorders such as
8. Examples of extrapulmonary volume disorders include
9. Extrathorax volume disorders due to lung compliance issues include
10. Extrathorax volume disorders that are due to respiratory center disorders include

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