Exertional Periodic Breathing in Heart Failure: Mechanisms and Clinical Implications

Periodic breathing (PB) during exercise is a slow, prominent, consistent fluctuation in ventilation and derived parameters that may be persistent for the entire exercise or present only in the early phases of exercise. It is associated with a negative prognosis, particularly if concomitant with PB during sleep. Little is known about exercise-induced PB physiology, but hyperventilation is likely due to an increased sympathetic activity combined with an enhanced stimulation of intrapulmonary, chemoreceptors and metaboreceptors, low cardiac output leading to increased circulatory delay, and cerebrovascular reactivity to CO2, all with have a definite role.