MedDRA preferred term · shortness of breath

Dyspnoea: adverse event reports recording this term

556,535 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 2.7% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

556,535
reports recording the term: 2.7% of all reports; 30,572
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 31,743 in the 12 months before; 71.6%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 7.6%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

"Dyspnoea" (in plain words, shortness of breath) is a MedDRA preferred term recorded in 556,535 adverse event reports received by FDA, 2.7% of the database, from January 2004 to June 2026. The term is chosen by whoever codes the report to match what the reporter described.

30,572 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, close to the 31,743 of the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 71.6% are marked serious, 7.6% include death among the outcomes and 39.6% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Prednisone, Dupixent and Humira. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Prednisone	Corticosteroid	14,002	7.6%
Dupixent	Interleukin-4 receptor alpha antagonist	13,579	2.9%
Humira	—	13,571	2.1%
Tiotropium bromide	Anticholinergic	13,428	17.5%
Albuterol sulfate	beta2-Adrenergic agonist	11,223	25.1%
Symbicort	Corticosteroid	10,661	27.3%
Enbrel	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	10,519	1.9%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	8,564	4.1%
Entresto	Angiotensin 2 receptor blocker	8,340	7.9%
Ambrisentan	Endothelin receptor antagonist	7,939	14.6%
Letairis	Endothelin receptor antagonist	7,802	15.7%
Rituximab	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	7,713	5%
Opsumit	Endothelin receptor antagonist	7,622	18.6%
Remicade	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	7,479	4.8%
Remodulin	Prostacycline vasodilator	6,854	14.4%
Xolair	Anti-IgE	6,292	9.7%
Revlimid	Thalidomide analog	6,277	1.8%
Actemra	Interleukin-6 receptor antagonist	5,679	7.1%
Tyvaso	Prostacycline vasodilator	5,652	20%
Nucala	Interleukin-5 antagonist	5,574	18.2%
Xeljanz	Janus kinase inhibitor	5,347	3.4%
Acetaminophen	Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	5,338	6.1%
Orencia	Selective T cell costimulation modulator	5,114	4.7%
Advair Hfa	Corticosteroid	4,971	25.3%
Albuterol	beta2-Adrenergic agonist	4,842	27.2%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 2.7% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Corticosteroid	74,051	9.2%	8.1%
Tumor necrosis factor blocker	37,218	3.5%	5.1%
Kinase inhibitor	29,062	3.4%	2.9%
Endothelin receptor antagonist	29,009	15.1%	15%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	28,918	5.3%	2.1%
Anticholinergic	27,629	17.3%	14.8%
Prostacycline vasodilator	21,528	18.1%	20.4%
beta2-Adrenergic agonist	20,316	22.1%	18%
Opioid agonist	16,939	1.8%	1.6%
Angiotensin 2 receptor blocker	16,091	6.6%	3.8%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20.3%1,861

2 to 110.8%4,283

12 to 170.9%5,137

18 to 4412.1%67,455

45 to 6424.4%135,945

65 to 7415.7%87,623

75 and over12.7%70,702

Age not given33%183,529

Patient sex

Female58.1%323,420

Male33.9%188,444

Not given8%44,671

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 62.7% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Dyspnoea"

What does "Dyspnoea" mean in an adverse event report?

In plain language: shortness of breath. It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record dyspnoea?

556,535 reports through June 2026 (2.7% of all reports), 30,572 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Prednisone (14,002), Dupixent (13,579), Humira (13,571), Tiotropium bromide (13,428) and Albuterol sulfate (11,223). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.