Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21051395›Full record

ReviewChest2010

Mechanisms of dyspnea.

Nausherwan K Burki, Lu-Yuan Lee

Open access · bronzeAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Chest, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
64citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
3.5field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

64 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 179 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Guideline
  6. Trial
  7. Trial
  8. Trial
  9. Does nebulized fentanyl relieve dyspnea during exercise in healthy man?Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2015
    Trial
  10. Trial
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Inhaled 5-HTComprehensive Physiology · 2026
    Article
  16. Insular routing to orbitofrontal cortex enables breathing awareness.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025
    Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Nausherwan K BurkiUniversity of Connecticut Health Center, Pulmonary Medicine-MC 1321, 263 Farmington Ave, Farmington, CT 06030, USA. nburki@uchc.edu
Lu-Yuan Lee
UConn Health · USUniversity of Kentucky · US

Funding

Airway sensory nerves and dyspnea in human subjectsR01HL065486 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY · PI BURKI, NAUSHERWAN K · 2002 to 2004
$468k
NHLBI NIH HHS HL-65486NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL065486
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The mechanisms and pathways of the sensation of dyspnea are incompletely understood, but recent studies have provided some clarification. Studies of patients with cord transection or polio, induced spinal anesthesia, or induced respiratory muscle paralysis indicate that activation of the respiratory muscles is not essential for the perception of dyspnea. Similarly, reflex chemostimulation by CO₂ causes dyspnea, even in the presence of respiratory muscle paralysis or cord transection, indicating that reflex chemoreceptor stimulation per se is dyspnogenic. Sensory afferents in the vagus nerves have been considered to be closely associated with dyspnea, but the data were conflicting. However, recent studies have provided evidence of pulmonary vagal C-fiber involvement in the genesis of dyspnea, and recent animal data provide a basis to reconcile differences in responses to various C-fiber stimuli, based on the ganglionic origin of the C fibers. Brain imaging studies have provided information on central pathways subserving dyspnea: Dyspnea is associated with activation of the limbic system, especially the insular area. These findings permit a clearer understanding of the mechanisms of dyspnea: Afferent information from reflex stimulation of the peripheral sensors (chemoreceptors and/or vagal C fibers) is processed centrally in the limbic system and sensorimotor cortex and results in increased neural output to the respiratory muscles. A perturbation in the ventilatory response due to weakness, paralysis, or increased mechanical load generates afferent information from vagal receptors in the lungs (and possibly mechanoreceptors in the respiratory muscles) to the sensorimotor cortex and results in the sensation of dyspnea.

Indexed as

RespirationAfferent PathwaysAnimalsChemoreceptor CellsDyspneaHumansMechanoreceptorsReflexRespiratory MusclesVagus Nerve

Identifiers

PMID21051395
PMCPMC2972628
OpenAlexW2073215750

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.