. 2010 Nov 22;1:141–150. doi: 10.2147/LCTT.S14426

Table 9.

Most commonly reported dyspnea descriptors in the seven studies that included data on the language of breathlessness

Article	Descriptor
Brown et al¹⁵ (two time periods)	Short of breath^a
	Difficulty breathing^a
	Hard to move air^a
	Tired or fatigued^a
O’Driscoll et al²⁶	Shortness of breath^a
	Panic^a
	Feeling of impending death^a
	Fear/fright^a
Clayson et al³²	Fighting for breath^a
Clayson et al³²	Gasping for air^a
Lai et al¹⁶	Labor^a
	Suffocating^a
	Tight^a
	Can’t breathe^a
	Awful^a
Broberger et al⁷ (two time periods)	Decreased breathing capacity
Broberger et al⁷ (two time periods)	Short of breath
Tishelman et al³³ (several time periods)	Frightening
Tishelman et al³³ (several time periods)	Distress
Wilcock et al³⁷	I feel out of breath^b
Wilcock et al³⁷	I cannot get enough air^b

Notes:

Volunteered descriptors;

Endorsed descriptors.