Respiratory acidosis

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Respiratory system

Respiratory acidosis is a condition that occurs when the lungs cannot remove all of the carbon dioxide the body produces. This disrupts the body's acid-base balance causing body fluids, especially the blood, to become too acidic.

Ventilatory failure; Respiratory failure; Acidosis - respiratory

Causes of respiratory acidosis include:

• Diseases of the airways (such as asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease), which send air into and out of the lungs
• Diseases of the chest (such as sarcoidosis), which make the lungs less efficient at filling and emptying
• Diseases affecting the nerves and muscles that "signal" the lungs to inflate or deflate
• Drugs that suppress breathing (including powerful pain medicines, such as narcotics, and "downers," such as benzodiazepines), especially when combined with alcohol
• Severe obesity, which restricts how much the lungs can expand

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Chronic respiratory acidosis occurs over a long period of time. This leads to a stable situation, because the kidneys increase body chemicals, such as bicarbonate, that help restore the body's acid-base balance.

Acute respiratory acidosis is a severe condition in which carbon dioxide builds up very quickly and before the kidneys can return the body to a state of balance.

Review Date: 08/08/2009
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).