What is a common sign associated with respiratory distress?

Work of breath is a common sign associated with respiratory distress because it reflects the effort required by a patient to breathe effectively. When someone is experiencing respiratory distress, their body may need to exert more energy to move air in and out of the lungs. This can be observed through various indicators such as increased respiratory rate, use of accessory muscles during breathing, nasal flaring, or even the positioning of the patient, which may be altered to facilitate easier breathing.

In respiratory distress, the body's demand for oxygen might exceed its ability to deliver it, leading to a visible increase in the work required for normal respiration. Therefore, patients often display signs of significant effort, which emphasizes the difficulty they are experiencing in achieving adequate ventilation or oxygenation.

Other options, while they may occur in certain situations, are not as directly tied to the mechanics of breathing as the work of breath. Rapid heart rate can be a response to various conditions, not exclusively respiratory distress. High fever is usually indicative of infection or inflammation, which can sometimes lead to respiratory distress, but is not a hallmark sign of it. Decreased lung capacity can result from a range of pulmonary conditions, yet it is a more general characteristic that does not specifically represent the acute symptoms seen in active respiratory distress.