TY - JOUR T1 - Dyspnoea, hyperventilation and functional cough: a guide to which tests help sort them out JF - Breathe JO - Breathe SP - 45 LP - 50 DO - 10.1183/20734735.019716 VL - 13 IS - 1 AU - Andrew Robson Y1 - 2017/03/01 UR - http://breathe.ersjournals.com/content/13/1/45.abstract N2 - Dyspnoea is a multifactorial symptom, defined by the American Thoracic Society as “a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity” [1]. Dyspnoea is caused by a wide range of conditions, ranging from asthma to pulmonary embolism, and including such nonrespiratory factors such as diabetic ketoacidosis. A patient with asthma who is aware of an increase in the muscular work of breathing during an attack, another patient with a pneumothorax experiencing increased efferent nerve stimulation from pulmonary stretch receptors and a third patient with type 1 respiratory failure would all describe themselves as “breathless”, but for very different physiological reasons. Identifying the exact source of the patient’s symptoms can be a lengthy process.Methods that can be used to investigate dyspnoea in a newly referred patient http://ow.ly/EsQW307U9hd ER -