Respiratory Rate
Also written as: RR, Breathing rate
The number of breaths taken per minute at rest, a sensitive but often overlooked vital sign.
What it measures
How many breaths a person takes in a minute, counted by watching the chest rise and fall while the person is at rest. It is ideally counted without the person knowing, because awareness of being watched changes breathing.
Why it is checked
Recorded as part of routine vital signs and watched closely in hospital, because breathing rate is often one of the earliest vital signs to shift when someone is becoming unwell. Changes can appear before other signs of trouble.
What is generally associated with a higher result
Broadly associated with fever, infection, lung conditions such as asthma and pneumonia, heart failure, anemia, anxiety, and pain. A sustained rise is broadly regarded as an early warning sign in someone who is unwell.
What is generally associated with a lower result
Broadly associated with sedating medications, including opioids, and with some neurological conditions. Slow, easy breathing at rest is also common during deep relaxation, sleep, and in very fit people.
Everyday things that move this number
Not every shift in a value reflects disease. These are ordinary factors known to affect this particular measurement:
- Awareness of being counted, which changes breathing almost immediately
- Anxiety, pain, or recent exertion
- Talking, eating, or moving around during the count
- Caffeine and other stimulants
- Fever or a recent illness
Questions to take to your appointment
- Was my rate counted over a full minute, or estimated from a shorter count?
- What changes in breathing pattern, beyond the number itself, would be worth reporting?
- Could any of my medicines be slowing or speeding my breathing?
Build a printable questionnaire with your own results →
Where to read more
MedlinePlus, from the US National Library of Medicine, publishes patient-facing pages on individual lab tests and is a reliable next stop: medlineplus.gov/lab-tests .
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