Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Wheezing
HP:0030828
What it means
A high-pitched whistling sound associated with labored breathing.
Wheezes and rhonchi are continuous musical lung sounds. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) Committee on pulmonary nomenclature defines wheezes as high-pitched continuous sounds with a dominant frequency of 400 Hz or more, and rhonchi as low-pitched continuous musical sounds with a dominant frequency of about 200 Hz or less
Rare diseases that can present with this27
Common30–79%
12- Bronchial neuroendocrine tumor
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
- Complete atrioventricular septal defect
- Congenital lobar emphysema
- Congenital tracheal stenosis
- Congenital tracheomalacia
- Danon disease
- Idiopathic bronchiectasis
- Idiopathic chronic eosinophilic pneumonia
- Lymphoid interstitial pneumonia
- Relapsing polychondritis
- Respiratory bronchiolitis-interstitial lung disease syndrome
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Tracking symptoms like this for someone? Eleplan keeps symptoms, diagnoses, medications and every specialist in one plan.
Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.