What does respiratory depression lead to in a patient?

Respiratory depression is defined as a decrease in the rate and depth of breathing, which results in hypoventilation. This condition causes inadequate ventilation and leads to an accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood, a process known as hypercapnia. As carbon dioxide levels rise, the body becomes less able to effectively eliminate this waste gas, causing a range of physiological disturbances.

In respiratory depression, the reduced ability to expel carbon dioxide results in elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the bloodstream. This high level of CO2 can lead to the condition known as respiratory acidosis, which can have serious implications for a patient’s overall physiological state, including impaired oxygen delivery to tissues.

The other choices do not accurately reflect the effects of respiratory depression. Increased respiratory rate would be a compensatory mechanism rather than a direct result of depression. Increased oxygen saturation would occur only if ventilation improved, which does not happen in respiratory depression. Enhanced lung capacity is not a physiological response to respiratory depression; rather, it involves increased ability to take in air, which contradicts the premise of respiratory depression.

Thus, the correct association with respiratory depression is hypoventilation and increased carbon dioxide concentration.