acute respiratory distress syndrome

noun

: respiratory failure of sudden onset in adults or children that follows injury to the endothelium of the lung (as in sepsis, chest trauma, massive blood transfusion, aspiration of the gastric contents, or pneumonia) and results in the accumulation of protein-rich fluid and the collapse of alveoli leading to difficult, rapid breathing and very low levels of oxygen in the blood

—abbreviation ARD

called also adult respiratory distress syndrome

Examples of acute respiratory distress syndrome in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This led to pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening lung injury that allows fluid to leak into the lungs. —Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025

Chhattisgarh, a state with a population of 32 million people, has 150 ventilators in government hospitals and perhaps only 25 specialists who know how to ventilate cases of acute respiratory distress syndrome, the kind of respiratory failure caused by COVID-19. —Vidya Krishnan, Foreign Affairs, 25 Mar. 2020

Doctors in North Dakota diagnosed Allard with parainfluenza, a virus that can cause respiratory infections, which spiraled into pneumonia, then acute respiratory distress syndrome — a life-threatening injury caused by fluid build-up in the lungs. —Aria Bendix, NBC News, 23 Jan. 2024

The survey — conducted by researchers of New York University and the University of Michigan — examined patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS, across 48 different hospitals across the United States. —Emi Tuyetnhi Tran, NBC News, 23 Feb. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1981, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for acute respiratory distress syndrome

• acrosome
• aerodrome
• catacomb
• centrosome
• chromosome
• cytochrome
• hippodrome
• honeycomb
• liposome
• meerschaum
• metronome
• microtome

Medical Definition

acute respiratory distress syndrome

noun

: respiratory failure of sudden onset in adults or children that follows injury to the endothelium of the lung (as in sepsis, chest trauma, massive blood transfusion, aspiration of the gastric contents, or pneumonia) with the accumulation of protein-rich fluid and the collapse of alveoli leading to difficult, rapid breathing and very low levels of oxygen in the blood

The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been recognized for more than 30 years as a severe form of acute respiratory failure. Patients with this disorder are critically ill, require mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit (ICU), and have a high mortality, ranging from 35% to 50% in recent reports.

—Harriet Kitzman et al., The Journal of the American Medical Association

A relatively simple method of improving oxygenation in a patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome … is to place the patient in the prone position

—James W. Leatherman et al., Scientific American Medicine Bulletin

—abbreviation ARDS

called also adult respiratory distress syndrome