BACKGROUND Chronic cough is a common symptom which causes significant levels of morbidity. It is becoming increasingly well characterised by research taking place in specialist cough clinics, where successful treatment rates are high. However, there is a paucity of data regarding the symptom complex of chronic cough in the community. This report details the results of a postal questionnaire sur...

Study objectives: Despite the success of specialist cough clinics, there is increasing recognition of a subgroup of chronic coughers in whom a diagnosis cannot be made even after thorough, systematic investigation. We call this condition chronic idiopathic cough (CIC). The aim of this study is to compare the clinical characteristics of CIC patients with those of coughers in whom a diagnosis has...

CMAJ • DECEMBER 14, 2010 • 182(18) © 2010 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors E859 A52-year-old woman was referred for evaluation of a persistent dry cough and episodic hemoptysis of about 20 years’ duration. These symptoms were thought to be caused by chronic laryngopharyngitis and had been treated with various antitussive agents. Her medical history was otherwise unremarkable, and p...

BACKGROUND Acute respiratory illness, a leading cause of cough in children, accounts for a substantial proportion of childhood morbidity and mortality worldwide. In some children acute cough progresses to chronic cough (>4 weeks duration), impacting on morbidity and decreasing quality of life. Despite the importance of chronic cough as a cause of substantial childhood morbidity and associated e...

Correspondence to: Professor A H Morice, Academic Department of Medicine, Respiratory Medicine, University of Hull, Castle Hill Hospital, Castle Road, Cottingham HU16 5JQ, UK; [email protected] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C hronic cough is a common diagnostic and therapeutic problem. The exact prevalence has proved difficult to estimate and recurrent cough is reported by 3...

C hronic cough is a common problem: community surveys suggest a prevalence of recurrent cough of up to 40% and persistent cough of up to 10% [1–3]. Approximately 10% of new patients seen in respiratory clinics are referred with an isolated chronic cough [4]. Most patients referred for a specialist opinion are nonsmokers with normal findings on basic screening investigations, such as chest radio...

BACKGROUND Chronic cough is common and is associated with significant economic and human costs. While cough can be a problematic symptom without serious consequences, it could also reflect a serious underlying illness. Evidence shows that the management of chronic cough in children needs to be improved. Our study tests the hypothesis that the management of chronic cough in children with an evid...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the use of an adult-based algorithmic approach to chronic cough in a cohort of children with a history of > 3 weeks of cough and to describe the etiology of chronic cough in this cohort. METHODS A prospective cohort study of children referred to a tertiary hospital with a history of > 3 weeks of cough between June 2002 and June 2004. All included children followed a path...

Chronic cough has been suggested to be due to three conditions, asthma, post nasal drip, and reflux disease. A different paradigm has evolved in which cough is viewed as the primary condition characterised by afferent neuronal hypersensitivity and different aspects of this syndrome are manifest in the different phenotypes of cough. There are several advantages to viewing cough hypersensitivity ...

Cough is probably the most common cause of seeking medical care in pediatric practice. Most acute cough is caused by infection and usually resolves within less than 4 weeks. If it lasts longer, it is considered chronic and deserves investigation to identify the underlying cause, which can be almost any of a wide variety of illnesses of the respiratory tract and certain extrathoracic conditions....