Somatoform respiratory disorders in children and adolescents—proposals for a practical approach to definition and classification

Somatoform respiratory disorders represent conditions with dysfunctional breathing unexplained by structural abnormalities. This heterogeneous group includes disorders with neural dysregulation of respiration (vocal cord dysfunction) or with dysregulation of the respiratory pattern (hyperventilation, sighing dyspnea), psychogenic disorders such as unjustified anxiety of suffocation, and stereotype conditions such as throat clearing or habit cough. Many symptoms are nonspecific and largely overlap with respiratory disease symptoms of somatic etiology. Most patients will present in a nonspecialized clinical setting. This article provides symptom-based criteria for the definition of somatoform respiratory disorders and their differentiation from somatic disease. Emphasis is put on clinical criteria which can be easily integrated in a routine setting. Owing to the multifaceted etiology of somatoform respiratory disorders therapeutic approaches integrating somatic medicine, respiratory therapy and psychology are crucial. The introduction of defined clinical criteria may facilitate the discrimination of somatoform respiratory disorders from somatic disorders in routine patient encounters and avoid therapeutic detours.