Curriculum · Respiratory
Obesity hypoventilation syndrome
What it is
Obesity hypoventilation syndrome, shortened to OHS, is a disorder in which central obesity leads to chronic hypoventilation, due at least in part to restricted diaphragm excursion.
How it presents
Shortness of breath that has slowly worsened over months, without cough or chest pain, in a person whose history is significant only for obesity. A described example: walking only 10 feet before becoming short of breath, a BMI of 42.4, an oxygen saturation of 92% on room air, a heart with a regular rate and rhythm and no murmurs, lungs clear to auscultation, bilateral 1+ edema of the lower extremities, and a normal chest radiograph.