Da Costa's syndrome

[3][4] Symptoms of Da Costa's syndrome include fatigue upon exertion, weakness induced by minor activity, shortness of breath, palpitations, sweating, and chest pain.

The report of Da Costa shows that patients recovered from the more severe symptoms when removed from the strenuous activity or sustained lifestyle that caused them.

Da Costa's syndrome involves a set of symptoms that include left-sided chest pains, palpitations, breathlessness, and fatigue in response to exertion.

Earl de Grey who presented four reports on British soldiers with these symptoms between 1864 and 1868, and attributed them to the heavy weight of military equipment being carried in knapsacks that were tightly strapped to the chest in a manner that constricted the action of the heart.

In 1870 Arthur Bowen Myers of the Coldstream Guards also regarded the accoutrements as the cause of the trouble, which he called neurocirculatory asthenia and cardiovascular neurosis.

[20][21] J. M. Da Costa's study of 300 soldiers reported similar findings in 1871 and added that the condition often developed and persisted after a bout of fever or diarrhoea.

[14] In 1876 surgeon Arthur Davy attributed the symptoms to military foot drill where "over-expanding the chest, caused dilatation of the heart, and so induced irritability".

In 1918 he published a monograph summarizing his findings, which showed that the vast majority did not have structural heart disease, as evidenced by the diagnostic methods available at the time.