Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Sep-Oct;57(219):302-306.
doi: 10.31729/jnma.4582.

Prevalence of Dyspnea among Patients Attending the Emergency Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Anmol Purna Shrestha  1 , Roshana Shrestha  1 , Sanu Krishna Shrestha  1 , Alok Pradhan  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of Dyspnea among Patients Attending the Emergency Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Anmol Purna Shrestha et al. JNMA J Nepal Med Assoc. 2019 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Introduction: Dyspnea is a common presenting complaint in the emergency department worldwide and a diagnostic challenge for emergency physicians. Our study aims to find the prevalence of dyspnea among patients attending emergency department in our hospital.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the emergency department of Dhulikhel hospital from May 2019 to July 2019 after ethical approval from the institutional review committee. Total 1200 samples were collected by consecutive sampling method. All patients were triaged in the emergency department as a part of regular protocol. The participants were included in the study after obtaining an informed consent from the patient or caretaker (if the patient were not able to provide it). Point estimate at 95% confidence interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. The statistical analysis was done using R version 3.5.3 (2019-03-11).

Results: The prevalence of dyspnea among patients attending emergency department of a tertiary care hospital was 107 (8.9%) (4.6%-13.2%) at 95% confidence interval. The patients triaged into red, orange and yellow categories were 14 (13.1%), 50 (46.7%) and 43 (40.2%) respectively. Median age was 64 years and 74 (69%) were ≥60 years. Sixty-seven (62.6%) were females and 40 (37.4%) were males. Forty-four (41.1%) arrived by ambulance. Most commonly associated symptoms were cough and fever 59 (51.1%) and 44 (41.1%) respectively.

Conclusions: The prevalence of dyspnea among patients attending emergency department of our hospital is higher compared to that of other studies. This warrants structured and prompt management of dyspnea for quality improvement.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; dyspnea; emergency medicine; shortness of breath..

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Mode of transport according to the triage category.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hutchinson A, Pickering A, Williams P, Bland JM, Johnson MJ. Breathlessness and presentation to the emergency department: a survey and clinical record review. BMC Pulm Med. 2017 Mar 20;17(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s12890-017-0396-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kelly AM, Keijzers G, Klim S, Graham CA, Craig S, Kuan WS, et al. An Observational Study of Dyspnea in Emergency Departments: The Asia, Australia, and New Zealand Dyspnea in Emergency Departments Study (AANZDEM) Acad Emerg Med. 2017 Mar;24(3):328–36. - PubMed
    1. Laribi S, Keijzers G, van Meer O, Klim S, Motiejunaite J, Kuan WS, et al. Epidemiology of patients presenting with dyspnea to emergency departments in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Eur J Emerg Med. 2019 Oct;26(5):345–9. doi: 10.1097/MEJ.0000000000000571. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Parshall MB, Schwartzstein RM, Adams L, Banzett RB, Manning HL, Bourbeau J, et al. An official American Thoracic Society statement: update on the mechanisms, assessment, and management of dyspnea. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2012 Feb 15;185(4):435–52. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201111-2042ST. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. O’Rourke ME. Clinical dilemma: dyspnea. Semin Oncol Nurs. 2007 Aug;23(3):225–31. doi: 10.1016/j.soncn.2007.05.007. - DOI - PubMed