Besides that, dyspnoea also comes with many interpretation such as “difficult, laboured, uncomfortable breathing” (4), an “awareness of respiratory distress” (5), and “the sensation of feeling …show more content…
2.3 Qualities Of Dyspnoea
2.3.1 Work/effort - arise from combination of some respiratory muscle when work of breathing high (9).
2.3.2 Tightness - commonly experienced during bronchoconstriction (9).
2.3.3 Air hunger/unsatisfied inspiration - perception of not getting enough (or needing more) air (9).
2.4 Gender Differences In Perception Of Dyspnoea
The results extend those of previous studies by O’Donnell et al. (2009) and Ofir et al. (2008) have exposed significant ventilatory and mechanical abnormalities and also respiratory discomfort during physical activity in smokers with a largely preserved FEV1 (10). Unique to their study is the finding that the sensory consequences of mild COPD were much more definite in women than men (10).
They found that, in contrast to the situation in health, women with mild COPD have greater dyspnoea for any given ventilation, work rate and metabolic requirement than their male counterparts (10). They also found that comparisons of sensory responses at absolute and relative work rates point to conclude that baseline sex differences in body size was the prime factor in explaining the differences in respiratory sensation during physical activity in COPD patients