Cough is a primitive reflex typically consisting of an initiating deep inspiration, glottal closure, and an explosive expiration accompanied by a sound. The flow characteristics of cough have been shown to differ between different pulmonary diseases. Cough sounds are generated at the larynx and in the lungs. Modern analysing techniques have also been applied in cough sound studies, and differen...

Statement of Interest: Statements of interest for S. Birring and I. Pavord can be found at www.erj.ersjournals.com/site/misc/ statements.xhtml REFERENCES 1 Pavord ID, Chung KF. Management of chronic cough. Lancet 2008; 371: 1375–1384. 2 Morice AH, McGarvey L, Pavord ID. Recommendations for the management of cough in adults. Thorax 2006; 61: 1–24. 3 Birring SS, Fleming T, Matos S, et al. The Lei...

CONTENTS Summary of key points and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1257 Capsaicin and citric acid inhalation cough challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1258 Cough induced by ...

Objectives: To study motor activation patterns of voluntary and reflex cough adjusted for cough flow rates. Methods: Surface electromyography (EMG) and cough flow rate were measured in 10 healthy volunteers. Voluntary cough was assessed for 20 efforts in each quintile of increasing cough flow rate. Reflex cough was assessed for 25 efforts produced by nebulised L-tartaric acid. EMG was recorded ...

BACKGROUND Chronic cough patients are rendered therapies for gastro-esophageal reflux (GERD), upper airway cough syndrome (UACS) and cough-variant asthma (CVA) with varying benefit. Idiopathic or unexplained cough has emerged as an important clinical entity in both primary care and subspecialty clinics. Recent evidence points to a link between chronic cough and untreated obstructive sleep apnea...

Chronic cough is a troublesome problem and it is frequently associated with diseases such as gastroesophageal reflux, asthma and upper airway diseases—so called diagnostic triade. The magnitude and severity of cough is strongly associated with the ongoing nasal inflammation in subjects with rhinosinusitis and treatment of nasal inflammation leads to the down regulation of pathologically up-regu...

There is a need for more objective outcome measures for chronic cough. In this pilot study we sought to investigate the utility of the mannitol challenge as a cough-provocation test in non-asthmatic chronic cough. We studied 16 healthy controls and 13 subjects with chronic cough. We assessed cough severity using a visual analogue score, capsaicin cough sensitivity, health status using the Leice...