MedDRA preferred term · difficulty breathing

Respiratory distress: adverse event reports recording this term

27,134 reports to FDA record it, 2004–2026; 0.1% 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.

27,134
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 1,508
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 1,335 in the 12 months before; 98.3%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 25.8%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

27,134 reports in FDA's adverse event database record the MedDRA term "Respiratory distress" (in plain words, difficulty breathing): 0.1% of all reports received between January 2004 and June 2026. Coders pick the term that best matches the reporter's description.

1,508 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, up 13% from 1,335 in 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, 98.3% are marked serious, 25.8% include death among the outcomes and 62.9% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Prednisone, Cyclophosphamide and Methotrexate. 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	679	0.4%
Cyclophosphamide	Alkylating drug	636	0.5%
Methotrexate	Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	571	0.3%
Dexamethasone	Corticosteroid	516	0.4%
Cytarabine	Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	424	0.8%
Tacrolimus	Calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant	417	0.4%
Rituximab	CD20-directed cytolytic antibody	387	0.2%
Carboplatin	Platinum-based drug	362	0.4%
Mycophenolate mofetil	Antimetabolite immunosuppressant	356	0.4%
Humira	—	344	0.1%
Prednisolone	Corticosteroid	324	0.4%
Etoposide	Topoisomerase inhibitor	308	0.5%
Methylprednisolone	Corticosteroid	281	0.6%
Vincristine	—	281	0.5%
Synagis	Respiratory syncytial virus Anti-F protein monoclonal antibody	271	1.9%
Remicade	Tumor necrosis factor blocker	256	0.2%
Oxaliplatin	Platinum-based drug	251	0.4%
Ibuprofen	Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	248	0.3%
Vincristine sulfate	Vinca alkaloid	246	0.9%
Metformin	Biguanide	243	0.4%
Paclitaxel	Microtubule inhibitor	241	0.3%
Cyclosporine	Calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant	238	0.6%
Tracleer	Endothelin receptor antagonist	234	0.7%
Remodulin	Prostacycline vasodilator	226	0.5%
Cisplatin	Platinum-based drug	224	0.3%

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 0.1% 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	2,401	0.3%	0%
Opioid agonist	1,130	0.1%	0%
Nucleoside metabolic inhibitor	1,070	0.3%	0.2%
Alkylating drug	1,041	0.4%	0.2%
Atypical antipsychotic	1,019	0.1%	0%
Benzodiazepine	987	0.4%	0.3%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	982	0.2%	0%
Platinum-based drug	837	0.4%	0.4%
Calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant	756	0.4%	0.2%
Folate analog metabolic inhibitor	711	0.2%	0.1%

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 25.4%1,466

2 to 114.8%1,300

12 to 173%822

18 to 4412.8%3,460

45 to 6422.4%6,085

65 to 7414.3%3,874

75 and over11.3%3,058

Age not given26.1%7,069

Patient sex

Female46.6%12,633

Male44.4%12,049

Not given9%2,452

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 44% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Respiratory distress"

What does "Respiratory distress" mean in an adverse event report?

In plain language: difficulty breathing. 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 respiratory distress?

27,134 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 1,508 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Prednisone (679), Cyclophosphamide (636), Methotrexate (571), Dexamethasone (516) and Cytarabine (424). 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.