If a patient's alveolar ventilation rate decreases due to shallow breathing but the pulmonary capillary blood flow remains constant, which consequence follows concerning respiratory gas exchange?

💡 Explanation

Decreased alveolar ventilation coupled with constant perfusion causes ventilation-perfusion mismatch, because the rate of oxygen supply to the alveoli is reduced relative to the rate of oxygen removal by the blood. Therefore, ventilation-perfusion matching worsens, rather than improving oxygen diffusion or gas gradients, because of the imbalance.

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