The causes of chronic cough: Chronic cough due to extrapulmonary etiologies

Jeong, Jae Won

Abstract

Cough is one of the most common symptoms leading to referral to medical institutions, and can be triggered by various causes. Since chronic cough does not respond well to antitussives that are generally prescribed in outpatient clinics, it is most important to seek the underlying cause and provide appropriate treatment rather than to just simply relieve symptoms. Although chronic cough is induced by various causes, it is one of difficult symptoms to deal with in clinical settings, having no specific symptom for diagnosis or definitive diagnostic tool. While taking patient's history, however, physicians can take a step closer to the treatment of chronic cough by asking more details about the character, frequency, onset, duration, and aggravating factor of cough, if any; the type of medication and time of its application; the response to previous treatment, etc. Underlying causes of chronic cough often require a long term treatment. Therefore, when treating patients, the physician must inform and discuss with the patient about the duration of treatment and what specifically he or she needs to do at home to maintain satisfactory compliance and expect good outcomes.