On the language of breathlessness

Benefits of Physical Training in Sarcoidosis

“…Scores range from 6 to 20, where 6 means ''no exertion at all'' and 20 means ''maximal exertion.'' Average breathlessness intensity over a 2-week period was assessed with an 8-point, modified Borg scale (from 0 to 7), for which higher scores indicate greater breathlessness [30]. Patients also ticked a box to indicate whether their breathlessness was brief, periodic, or continuous.…”

Validation of a Swedish Version of the Cancer Dyspnea Scale

“…A structure of the descriptors emerged with four classes, physical sensation, affective/evaluative, low energy and a fourth class which was divided in two subclasses, hyperventilation and speechless. In the study by Simon et al (1990), none of the 48 included patients had lung cancer and in the study by Skevington et al (1997), 15 of a total of 53 patients had cancer of different sites. In the study by Wilcock et al (2002), there were 131 patients with lung cancer, but the descriptions they were presented and requested to choose among were pre-determined and not elaborated among patients with lung cancer.…”

“…The clusters hunger and tight/constricted were connected with pleural thickening. In a study of patients with dyspnea due to different diagnoses, patients were asked for their own descriptions of breathlessness (Skevington et al 1997). The descriptors were then presented to expert healthcare professionals who rated frequencies and connections of the descriptors to each other.…”

“…Other descriptions included "not getting enough air" and "feelings of suffocating or tightness". There seems to be agreement that dyspnea concerns both physical and emotional experiences (Skevington et al 1997;O'Driscoll et al 1999) and that dyspnea could be described as being unable to get enough air (O'Driscoll et al 1999;Wilcock et al 2002), to gasp (Simon et al 1990;Skevington et al 1997;Wilcock et al 2002), that breathing requires effort (Simon et al 1990;Wilcock et al 2002) and can be shallow (Simon et al 1990;Wilcock et al 2002). To date, it has not been possible to connect specific descriptors of dyspnea to the lung cancer disease.…”

“…Attempts have previously been made to distinguish between descriptions of dyspnea that are assumed to refer to different origins of the symptom (Skevington et al 1997;Wilcock et al 2002;Scano et al 2005). Wilcock et al (2002) found descriptors used by patients with lung cancer to be "out of breath" and "not having enough air", which correspond with some codes belonging to the subcategory "characteristic bodily manifestations" in Paper IV and with some CDS items.…”