respiratory distress syndrome

noun

: a respiratory disorder chiefly of newborn premature infants that is characterized by deficiency of the surfactant coating the inner surface of the lungs resulting in labored breathing, lung collapse, and hypoxemia compare acute respiratory distress syndrome

Examples of respiratory distress syndrome in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Her primary focus was on hyaline membrane disease, sometimes called respiratory distress syndrome, in which alveoli — tiny air sacs in the lungs — do not properly inflate. —Matt Schudel, Washington Post, 3 July 2024

Acute care nurses These nurses provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions like heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome or shock. —Brianna Herlihy, Fox News, 12 Dec. 2023

Cincinnati Children's has developed a number of medical innovations over the years, including the development of the Sabin oral polio vaccine, a vaccine to combat rotavirus, and the identification of surfactant proteins as a routine treatment for respiratory distress syndrome, among others. —Brooks Sutherland, The Enquirer, 9 Mar. 2022

Detzel’s 4-month-old daughter had respiratory distress syndrome and had also been hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. —Jean Lee, NBC News, 28 Dec. 2022

These nurses provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions like heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome, or shock. —Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY, 11 Dec. 2022

For children, the costliest outcomes were preterm birth ($13.7 billion), developmental disabilities ($6.5 billion), and respiratory distress syndrome ($2.2 billion), a breathing disorder that affects newborns. —Laurie Zephyrin, STAT, 25 Nov. 2021

Moms who took progesterone were also less likely to have babies with respiratory distress syndrome, one of the most dangerous problems for premature infants. —Mark Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2021

The premature infant was diagnosed with neonatal respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia and needed to be resuscitated at birth. —NBC News, 27 Mar. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1964, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

respiratory distress syndrome

noun

: a respiratory disorder that occurs in newborn premature infants and is characterized by deficiency of the surfactant coating the inner surface of the lungs, by failure of the lungs to expand and contract properly during breathing with resulting collapse, and by the accumulation of a protein-containing film lining the alveoli and their ducts

—abbreviation RDS

called also hyaline membrane disease

see acute respiratory distress syndrome