Silent hypoxaemia in COVID-19 patients

Tatum S Simonson; Tracy L Baker; Robert B Banzett; Tammie Bishop; Jerome A Dempsey; Jack L Feldman; Patrice G Guyenet; Emma J Hodson; Gordon S Mitchell; Esteban A Moya; Brandon T Nokes; Jeremy E Orr; Robert L Owens; Marc Poulin; Jean M Rawling; Christopher N Schmickl; Jyoti J Watters; Magdy Younes; Atul Malhotra

doi:10.1113/JP280769

Silent hypoxaemia in COVID-19 patients

J Physiol. 2021 Feb;599(4):1057-1065. doi: 10.1113/JP280769. Epub 2021 Jan 4.

Authors

Tatum S Simonson¹, Tracy L Baker², Robert B Banzett³, Tammie Bishop⁴, Jerome A Dempsey⁵, Jack L Feldman⁶, Patrice G Guyenet⁷, Emma J Hodson^{8

9}, Gordon S Mitchell¹⁰, Esteban A Moya¹, Brandon T Nokes¹, Jeremy E Orr¹, Robert L Owens¹, Marc Poulin¹¹, Jean M Rawling¹², Christopher N Schmickl¹, Jyoti J Watters², Magdy Younes¹³, Atul Malhotra¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
² Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Wisconsin -, Madison, WI, USA.
³ Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, & Sleep Medicine Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁵ Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin -, Madison, WI, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurobiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
⁸ The Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.
⁹ The Department of Experimental Medicine and Immunotherapeutics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Physical Therapy, Center for Respiratory Research and Rehabilitation, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
¹¹ Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology and Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine and Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
¹² Departments of Family Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
¹³ Sleep Disorders Centre, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Abstract

The clinical presentation of COVID-19 due to infection with SARS-CoV-2 is highly variable with the majority of patients having mild symptoms while others develop severe respiratory failure. The reason for this variability is unclear but is in critical need of investigation. Some COVID-19 patients have been labelled with 'happy hypoxia', in which patient complaints of dyspnoea and observable signs of respiratory distress are reported to be absent. Based on ongoing debate, we highlight key respiratory and neurological components that could underlie variation in the presentation of silent hypoxaemia and define priorities for subsequent investigation.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; dyspnoea; happy hypoxia; silent hypoxaemia.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Dyspnea
Humans
Hypoxia
SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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