Biomaterial Database

Acute respiratory failure and obesity with normal ventilatory response to carbon dioxide and absent hypoxic ventilatory drive. 1977

R S Kronenberg, and C W Drage, and J E Stevenson

We measured hypoxic and hypercapnic ventilatory drive in a 64 year old woman with acute respiratory failure, congestive heart failure and obesity when she was in remission. She had a ventilatory response to carbon dioxide (CO2) comparable to that in six obese women without hypoventilation but no ventilatory response to hypoxia or to vital capacity breaths of 15 per cent CO2 in N2. Following weight loss, her ventilatory response to CO2 increased but hypoxic ventilatory response to CO2 increased but hypoxic ventilatory drive remained absent. These findings indicate that attenuation of hypoxic ventilatory drive caused by loss of peripheral chemoreceptor function can be a predisposing factor in the development of acute respiratory failure associated with obesity.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D009765	Obesity	A status with BODY WEIGHT that is grossly above the recommended standards, usually due to accumulation of excess FATS in the body. The standards may vary with age, sex, genetic or cultural background. In the BODY MASS INDEX, a BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2 is considered obese, and a BMI greater than 40.0 kg/m2 is considered morbidly obese (MORBID OBESITY).
D012119	Respiration	The act of breathing with the LUNGS, consisting of INHALATION, or the taking into the lungs of the ambient air, and of EXHALATION, or the expelling of the modified air which contains more CARBON DIOXIDE than the air taken in (Blakiston's Gould Medical Dictionary, 4th ed.). This does not include tissue respiration (	Breathing
D012131	Respiratory Insufficiency	Failure to adequately provide oxygen to cells of the body and to remove excess carbon dioxide from them. (Stedman, 25th ed)	Acute Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure,Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure,Hypercapnic Acute Respiratory Failure,Hypercapnic Respiratory Failure,Hypoxemic Acute Respiratory Failure,Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure,Respiratory Depression,Respiratory Failure,Ventilatory Depression,Depressions, Ventilatory,Failure, Hypercapnic Respiratory,Failure, Hypoxemic Respiratory,Failure, Respiratory,Hypercapnic Respiratory Failures,Hypoxemic Respiratory Failures,Respiratory Failure, Hypercapnic,Respiratory Failure, Hypoxemic,Respiratory Failures
D001835	Body Weight	The mass or quantity of heaviness of an individual. It is expressed by units of pounds or kilograms.	Body Weights,Weight, Body,Weights, Body
D002245	Carbon Dioxide	A colorless, odorless gas that can be formed by the body and is necessary for the respiration cycle of plants and animals.	Carbonic Anhydride,Anhydride, Carbonic,Dioxide, Carbon
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000860	Hypoxia	Sub-optimal OXYGEN levels in the ambient air of living organisms.	Anoxia,Oxygen Deficiency,Anoxemia,Deficiency, Oxygen,Hypoxemia,Deficiencies, Oxygen,Oxygen Deficiencies