Nijmegen Questionnaire Test

People who notice breathlessness, chest sensations, dizziness, or anxiety-linked bodily changes may use the Nijmegen Questionnaire Test to examine whether these experiences occur together. As a hyperventilation syndrome questionnaire, it estimates whether the combined symptom pattern corresponds to a lower or higher likelihood of hyperventilation syndrome. The result frames symptom frequency for interpretation alongside personal context.

What This Assessment Explores

These items sample symptoms linked to altered breathing and bodily arousal. Together, they form a total score estimating the likelihood of hyperventilation syndrome; the pattern shows how often these experiences are endorsed. As a breathing symptom assessment, it combines physical and emotional symptom frequency rather than isolating one complaint.

The questionnaire covers four practical groupings:

• Breathing changes describe rapid or deepened breathing, difficulty taking a full breath, and shortness of breath.
• Chest and heart sensations capture pain, tightness, and palpitations that may feel alarming.
• Sensory experiences include dizziness, blurred vision, tingling, numbness, stiffness, cold extremities, and detachment.
• Emotional and abdominal experiences reflect tension, anxiety, mouth tension, and bloating.

The displayed scale is Total Score (0-64). Low likelihood covers 0-22, while High likelihood covers 23-64; higher scores indicate a greater estimated likelihood of hyperventilation syndrome.

Methodology and Evidence Base

This is a symptom-frequency self-report: each of the 16 items asks how often a symptom occurs, using the ordered choices Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, and Very often. Responses are combined into one total rather than reported as separate subscale scores. The questionnaire reports a total score, but its item-level point assignment is undocumented, so points should not be inferred from the answer wording.

This online version presents the published Nijmegen Questionnaire associated with Van Dixhoorn and Duivenvoorden. Van Dixhoorn and Folgering place the measure within discussion of dysfunctional breathing and emphasize that symptom scores require clinical context. It is a dysfunctional breathing assessment that links the symptom pattern to this construct and uses the total score to estimate the likelihood of hyperventilation syndrome.

No standardized norms, reliability estimates, or diagnostic status are stated for this online version. Self-report can be shaped by current stress, recall, attention, and the respondent’s interpretation of bodily sensations; the score therefore summarizes reported symptoms rather than independently establishing their cause. It combines symptom frequency with the estimated likelihood in one profile.