Breathlessness and COVID-19: A Call for Research

Breathlessness, also known as dyspnoea, is a debilitating and frequent symptom. Several reports have highlighted the lack of dyspnoea in a subgroup of patients suffering from COVID-19, sometimes referred to as “silent” or “happy hyp­oxaemia.” Reports have also mentioned the absence of a clear relati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Respiration 2021-10, Vol.100 (10), p.1016-1026
Main Authors: Hentsch, Lisa, Cocetta, Sara, Allali, Gilles, Santana, Isabelle, Eason, Rowena, Adam, Emily, Janssens, Jean-Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Review
Risk factors
Shortness of breath
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Summary:Breathlessness, also known as dyspnoea, is a debilitating and frequent symptom. Several reports have highlighted the lack of dyspnoea in a subgroup of patients suffering from COVID-19, sometimes referred to as “silent” or “happy hyp­oxaemia.” Reports have also mentioned the absence of a clear relationship between the clinical severity of the disease and levels of breathlessness reported by patients. The cerebral complications of COVID-19 have been largely demonstrated with a high prevalence of an acute encephalopathy that could possibly affect the processing of afferent signals or top-down modulation of breathlessness signals. In this review, we aim to highlight the mechanisms involved in breathlessness and summarize the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and its known effects on the brain-lung interaction. We then offer hypotheses for the alteration of breathlessness perception in COVID-19 patients and suggest ways of further researching this phenomenon.
ISSN:0025-7931
1423-0356
DOI:10.1159/000517400