Shortness of Breath | Causes & Risk Factors

What could be causing my shortness of breath?

Shortness of breath can be caused by many things, including the following:

• Asthma
• Other lung diseases, including emphysema (say: "em-fa-see-ma"), which is a lung disease that is most often caused by smoking
• Heart failure
• Panic attacks

If you are short of breath with a cough and/or fever, you may have a chest infection or pneumonia (say: "new-moan-yuh"). Less common causes of breathing problems are lung cancer, a blood clot in the lungs, air leakage around the lungs and scarring of the lung tissue.