Hyperventilation Syndrome

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Hyperventilation syndrome refers to acollection of physical and emotional symptoms, broughtabout by hyperventilation. Though it is a relatively commonpresentation to the emergency department, there are only a fewstudies on hyperventilation syndrome (HVS) especially fromIndia. This study aims at studying the factors associated withhyperventilation syndrome in the current study population.Material and methods: A cross sectional study wasconducted on 83 patients with HVS. Patient responses wererecorded on Nijmegen questionnaire and Perceived stressscale and analyzed with descriptive statistics.Results: Study population included 83 patients, 78.32% ofthe populations were females and 21.68% were males. Themean age of the population is 19.28 years. 66.26% wereadolescents, 81.92% are students and 68.67% were residingin hostel. 12.05% had previous episodes of hyperventilation.Carpo-pedal spasm was the presenting symptom in 40.96%population and exams were the cause of stress for 32.5%population. The mean score on perceived stress scale is 24.92.59.03% had moderate and 38.55% had severe stress as perscores on perceived stress scale.Conclusion: High student population presenting with HVSand exams being the precipitating stressor, high scores onperceived stress scale emphasizes the need to address the needfor stress free curriculum and greater insights in to the issue.