Living well with breathlessness: how clinicians can help

[摘要] Millions of people around the world live with breathlessness due to underlying cardiorespiratory conditions. Living with breathlessness can be very difficult both for patients and for those who care for them, as it raises physical, psychological, social, and existential issues for all concerned. It causes difficulties moving around and doing everyday things, leads to the sufferer becoming dependent on others, engenders feelings of depression or anxiety, leads to changes in relationships and roles, and creates fears about the future and dying. Clinicians can help people manage their breathlessness better. From our systematic review of qualitative literature on the experience of living with breathlessness, we developed the concept of Breathing Space.1 This incorporates an old English phrase used since the 1600s meaning ‘a period of rest that allows you to get your energy back or try a different solution ’2 and ‘sufficient space in which to move and work’. 3 It also includes a specific definition of quality of life: ‘The degree …

[学科分类] 卫生学