Yorke, J 'Translating the language of breathlessness: a systematic review' , Heart & Lung - The Journal of Acute and Critical Care . (Submitted)

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Abstract

The term 'breathlessness' is generally applied to describe the subjective experience of breathing discomfort. This paper reports a systematic review of research exploring the language of breathlessness experimentally-induced or experienced by patients with cardiopulmonary disease. A systematic search for relevant papers was conducted for the period 1989 to December 2009; 45 papers were included. The majority of work has focused on the sensory-quality dimension using three main lists that require subjects to select relevant descriptors. Little research has focused on the language used to describe breathlessness affect, with only one study attempting to test the psychometric properties of such descriptors. Although evidence of a consistent link between descriptors and underlying disease is questionable, descriptors appear to provide an avenue for the assessment of breathlessness severity. More research is needed to determine the effect of culture, language, age and gender on the language used to describe breathlessness.

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