Dyspnea in patients with cardiovascular diseases: clinical, diagnostic and pathophysiologic aspects

Dyspnea is one of the most common symptoms in patients with various diseases. Dyspnea in stable ischemic heart disease (IHD), especially in a patient with prior myocardial infarction, is in most cases considered as a manifestation of congestive heart failure (CHF). And often practicing physicians do not think about the possibility of another genesis of dyspnea in their patients. This may lead to overdiagnosis of CHF. The review presents data on the occurrence, prognostic significance, classification features, as well as methods of dyspnea evaluation in therapeutic patients. The peculiarities of dyspnea genesis in patients with IHD, CHF, as well as in elderly patients are described. The absence of a universal and accessible method of dyspnea assessment complicates its differential diagnosis, especially in patients with a combination of pathology of respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Further research is needed to develop methods of complex assessment of dyspnea in patients with cardiovascular and other diseases in different age groups.