Hyperventilation syndrome: a clinical and physiological evaluation

Abstract

There is a chronic hyperventilation syndrome which is much more common, of greater medical significance and far more difficult to diagnose than the better-known acute hyperventilation attack. This chronic syndrome tends to mimic grave organic disease with which it frequently is associated or superimposed. Studies on 250 patients with chronic hyperventilation patterns revealed the rapidity with which biochemical and physiological changes can occur and the characteristics of the resultant symptoms and signs, with particular reference to the heart and lungs. Once the diagnosis is suspected and appropriately confirmed, it is possible to "cure" over 70 per cent of such patients by means of simple therapeutic measures.