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BMC Primary Care
Published in: BMC Primary Care 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Studies of the symptom dyspnoea: A systematic review

Authors: Annika Viniol, Dominik Beidatsch, Thomas Frese, Milena Bergmann, Paula Grevenrath, Laura Schmidt, Sonja Schwarm, Jörg Haasenritter, Stefan Bösner, Annette Becker

Published in: BMC Primary Care | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Background

To deal with patients suffering from dyspnoea, it is crucial for general practitioners to know the prevalences of different diseases causing dyspnoea in the respective area and season, the likelihood of avoidable life-threatening conditions and of worsening or recovery from disease.

Aim

Aim of our project was to conduct a systematic review of symptom-evaluating studies on the prevalence, aetiology, and prognosis of dyspnoea as presented to GPs in a primary care setting.

Methods

We did a systematic review of symptom-evaluating studies on dyspnoea in primary care. For this we included all studies investigating the complaint “dyspnoea” as a primary or secondary consulting reason in general practice. Apart from qualitative studies, all kind of study designs independent from type of data assessment, outcome measurement or study quality were included. Symptom-evaluating studies from other settings than primary care and studies which exclusively included children (age <18 years) were excluded from the review. Studies selecting patients prior to recruitment, e.g. because of an increased probability for a particular diagnosis, were also excluded.

Results

This systematic review identified 6 symptom evaluating studies on dyspnoea in the primary care setting. The prevalence of dyspnoea as reason for consultation ranges from 0.87 to 2.59 % in general practice. Among all dyspnoea patients 2.7 % (CI 2.2–3.3) suffer from pneumonia. Further specification of underlying aetiologies seems difficult due to the studies’ heterogeneity showing a great variety of probabilities.

Conclusion

There is a great lack of empirical evidence on the prevalence, aetiology and prognosis of dyspnoea in general practice. This might yield uncertainty in diagnosis and evaluation of dyspnoea in primary care.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Studies of the symptom dyspnoea: A systematic review
Authors
Annika Viniol
Dominik Beidatsch
Thomas Frese
Milena Bergmann
Paula Grevenrath
Laura Schmidt
Sonja Schwarm
Jörg Haasenritter
Stefan Bösner
Annette Becker
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Primary Care / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 2731-4553
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-015-0373-z

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