Risk factors

Factors that make you more likely to develop atelectasis include:

• Older age
• Any condition that makes it difficult to swallow
• Confinement to bed with infrequent changes of position
• Lung disease, such as asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis or cystic fibrosis
• Recent abdominal or chest surgery
• Recent general anesthesia
• Weak breathing (respiratory) muscles due to muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injury or another neuromuscular condition
• Medications that may cause shallow breathing
• Pain or injury that may make it painful to cough or cause shallow breathing, including stomach pain or rib fracture
• Smoking