Complete the sequence describing common respiratory complications in trauma patients: ______xemia, ______capnia, and ______ respiratory effort.

• A. Hypo, Hyper, Increased
• B. Hyper, Hypo, Decreased
• C. Normal, Hyper, Increased
• D. Hypo, Hypo, Increased

Answer: (A)

Gas exchange and breathing effort change in trauma as the body struggles to oxygenate blood and remove CO2. Hypoxemia shows that arterial oxygen is reduced due to lung injury or V/Q mismatch, which is common after chest trauma or pulmonary contusions. If ventilation is not adequate to clear CO2, hypercapnia follows, reflecting CO2 retention from impaired ventilation. In response to these gas-exchange problems, the patient typically increases respiratory effort to try to compensate, using more effort and often tachypnea.

So the sequence fits as: hypoxemia, hypercapnia, and increased respiratory effort. In contrast, patterns suggesting normal oxygen with high CO2, low CO2 with low oxygen, or no change in effort don’t align with how the respiratory system usually responds to trauma-related lung or chest-wall injury.