| |
Question
4.3
Using
a dyspnea questionnaire, if you asked patients with cardiopulmonary
disorders about the quality of their breathing discomfort, would
you find relationships between groups of words and the medical
conditions, as are found when inquiring about pain?
| Table
4.4: Clusters associated with particular conditions
leading to breathing discomfort.
|
|---|
|
Clusters
|
Descriptors
|
Vasc
|
Neuro
|
CHF
|
Preg
|
Inters
|
Asthma
|
COPD
|
|---|
| 1.In |
1
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2.
Deep |
6
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
X
|
|
| 3.
Stops |
11
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4.
Gasping |
12
|
|
X
|
|
|
X
|
|
X
|
| 5.
Rapid |
14
|
X
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
| 6.
More |
16
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 7.
Exhalation |
18
|
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
| 8.
Concentration |
19
|
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
| 9.
Suffocating |
3,
10
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
| 10.
Hunger |
4,
7, 17
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
X
|
| 11.
Heavy |
2,
5
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
| 12.
Effort |
2,
7, 9
|
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
X
|
| 13.
Tight |
8,
13
|
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
14.
Shallow
|
9,15
|
|
X
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
Vasc
= pulmonary vascular disease
Neuro = neuromuscular disease
Preg = pregnancy
Inters = interstitial disease |
| Official
journal of the American Thoracic Society. © American
Lung Association. Reprinted with permission. |
|
This table of clusters
associated with particular condition illustrates that the features
of multiplicity, uniqueness, and sharing that characterized the
associations of particular descriptive words with pain syndromes
are also present with respect to the phrases chosen for breathing
discomfort in these conditions. Although cross-cultural studies
of the language of dyspnea remain to be done, the data from the
United States (Simon et al., 1990) and the United Kingdom (Elliott et al.,
1991) show surprising similarities. Having developed a
rudimentary vocabulary of dyspnea, investigators can now apply
the language to help increase our understanding of the symptom.
|