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Hypopnea is overly shallow breathing or an abnormally low respiratory rate. Hypopnea is typically defined by a decreased amount of air movement into the lungs and can cause hypoxemia (low levels of oxygen in the blood.) It commonly is due to partial obstruction of the upper airway, but can also have neurological origins in central sleep apnea.
Fig. 6: Shallow breathing using rib muscles. Shallow breathing, thoracic breathing, costal breathing or chest breathing [1] is the drawing of minimal breath into the lungs, usually by drawing air into the chest area using the intercostal muscles rather than throughout the lungs via the diaphragm. Shallow breathing can result in or be ...
Hypoventilation is not synonymous with respiratory arrest, in which breathing ceases entirely and death occurs within minutes due to hypoxia and leads rapidly into complete anoxia, although both are medical emergencies. Hypoventilation can be considered a precursor to hypoxia, and its lethality is attributed to hypoxia with carbon dioxide toxicity.
Situations that can cause asphyxia include but are not limited to: airway obstruction, the constriction or obstruction of airways, such as from asthma, laryngospasm, or simple blockage from the presence of foreign materials; from being in environments where oxygen is not readily accessible: such as underwater, in a low oxygen atmosphere, or in a vacuum; environments where sufficiently ...
The disease puts strain on the heart, which may lead to heart failure and leg swelling. Obesity hypoventilation syndrome is defined as the combination of obesity and an increased blood carbon dioxide level during the day that is not attributable to another cause of excessively slow or shallow breathing. [2]
Physiological shunts, occur due to the effect of gravity. The highest concentration of blood in the pulmonary circulation occurs in the bases of the pulmonary tree compared to the highest pressure of gas in the apexes of the lungs. Alveoli may not be ventilated in shallow breathing. Shunting may also occur in disease states:
Alveolar hypoventilation (decreased minute volume due to reduced respiratory muscle activity, e.g. in acute neuromuscular disease); this form can also cause type 2 respiratory failure if severe. Diffusion problem (oxygen cannot enter the capillaries due to parenchymal disease, e.g. in pneumonia or ARDS).
Because the brain stem regulates breathing by monitoring the level of blood CO 2 instead of O 2, hypocapnia can suppress breathing to the point of blackout from cerebral hypoxia, as exhibited in shallow water blackout. Hypocapnia also results in bronchoconstriction [3] in order to decrease ventilation. This mechanism is meant to counteract ...