Tachypnea and Hypernea signs of Compensatory Ventilation

Our plain-English summary of Tachypnea and Hypernea signs of Compensatory Ventilation, by K.H. Kilburn (1965).

The study

• Author: K.H. Kilburn
• Published: Archives of Internal Medicine, Volume 12 No3. (1965)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This article by K.H. Kilburn described 11 men at the Durham Veterans Administration Hospital who breathed unusually fast (tachypnea) or unusually deeply (hyperpnea) at rest. They had been referred to the pulmonary laboratory over one year. The article does not mention asbestos. The author measured lung volumes and air flow by spirometry. At rest and during steady treadmill exercise, the author measured breathing, arterial blood gases, oxygen use and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity, and compared the results with normal medical students. The patients' arterial blood showed a compensated respiratory alkalosis. At rest, the patients moved an average of 3.9 liters of air per 100 ml of oxygen used, against 2.6 liters in the normal subjects. During exercise this figure stayed more than twice the normal value. Air flow on breathing out was slightly reduced and improved after nebulized isoproterenol, but the author wrote that this minor impairment did not explain the overbreathing. Patients with hyperpnea had higher diffusing capacities than those with tachypnea. The author concluded that tachypnea and hyperpnea are clues to disordered breathing and described the conclusions as tentative.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Clinical physiologic study of a small series of patients (case series), with comparison to normal subjects
• Who was studied: 11 men admitted to the Durham Veterans Administration Hospital for various reasons and referred to the pulmonary laboratory over 1 year, compared with normal medical students (average age 26). The author's discussion refers to an invariably long smoking history in these patients.
• Exposure: No asbestos or other fiber exposure is studied. The study examined unexplained rapid or deep breathing. Jobs are listed for the patients; one man, a textile mill worker, had shortness of breath only after exposure to what the damaged text appears to call lint.
• Main results:
  • The patients' arterial blood showed a compensated respiratory alkalosis: hydrogen ion concentration was normal, and carbon dioxide tension and bicarbonate were reduced.
  • At rest, the patients' ventilatory equivalent (liters of air moved per 100 ml of oxygen used) averaged 3.9 liters, compared with 2.6 liters in the normal subjects.
  • During steady exercise, the patients' ventilatory equivalent remained more than twice that of the normal subjects (normal value 1.6 liters per 100 ml of oxygen).
  • Expiratory flow rates in the patients, measured by spirometry, were slightly reduced and improved after nebulized isoproterenol.
  • The author stated that this minor ventilatory impairment did not explain the overbreathing or the reduced diffusing capacities.
  • Subjects with hyperpnea had higher diffusing capacities for carbon monoxide than subjects with tachypnea.
  • Four of the patients were obese (over 220 lbs). In contrast to hyperventilation reported in obese people, these men maintained low carbon dioxide tensions in arterial blood.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that tachypnea and hyperpnea are readily identified clues to disordered breathing, and that the presence of altered consciousness and peripheral signs distinguishes patients with hyperventilation syndrome from these patients.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that the conclusions are tentative.
  • Lung tissue was not examined.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Spirometry, Diffusing Capacity (DLCO).

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