Pocket Pediatrics: The Massachusetts General Hospital for Children Handbook of Pediatrics (Pocket Notebook Series), 2 Ed.

TACHYPNEA

Normal Respiratory Rates

Differential of Tachypnea

• Compensation for decreased tidal volume

• Upper/lower airway obstruction, upper/lower respiratory infection, foreign body, restrictive lung disease or chest wall immobility, pain/splinting, fever

• Compensation for decreased oxygen supply

• VQ mismatch: Pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, atelectasis

• Decreased FiO₂: Altitude

• Increased diffusion gradient: Pulmonary hypertension, interstitial lung disease

• Shunt: Cardiopulmonary and intrapulmonary shunts

• Anemia

• Compensation for metabolic acidosis

• Sepsis, RTA, diabetic ketoacidosis, (MUDPILES)

Workup: CXR, CT, CBC with diff, glucose, nasopharyngoscopy, bronchoscopy, pulmonary function tests, lung biopsy