Korean J Neurogastroenterol Motil.  2007 Jun;13(1):15-20.

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Patients with Unexplained Chronic Cough

• Hwang IJ
• Jung HC
• Shi GD
• Yoon JH
• Choi JH
• Song HU
• Oh JH
• Kwon CI
• Hwang SG
• Park PW
• Rim KS
• Hong SP

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Unexplained chronic cough is a common clinical problem and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has been identified as one of the most important causes of chronic cough. It has been established that extra-esophageal symptoms such as cough, laryngitis, asthma or dental erosions have close associations with GERD and they might be a clue to diagnose GERD. The aim of our study was to evaluate the incidence of GERD as a cause of chronic cough in patients who visited our respiratory disease clinic in Korea.
METHODS
The patients who visited the respiratory clinic due to unexplained chronic cough for more than eight weeks were enrolled. The diagnostic modality for GERD was ambulatory 24 hour esophageal pH monitoring.
RESULTS
A total of 56 patients underwent 24-h esophageal pH monitoring. Twelve patients were excluded from the study because of a positive methacholine challenge test (n=7), post nasal drip syndrome (n=3), COPD (n=1), and failure to test (n=1). Among the 44 patients, 14 (31.8%) patients were diagnosed as GERD by 24-h esophageal pH monitoring.
CONCLUSIONS
Unexplained chronic cough was associated with GERD in about one third of patients who visited a clinic for lung diseases.

Keyword

Chronic cough; Gastroesophageal reflux disease; Ambulatory 24 hour esophageal pH monitoring

MeSH Terms

Asthma
Cough*
Esophageal pH Monitoring
Gastroesophageal Reflux*
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Laryngitis
Lung Diseases
Methacholine Chloride
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
Methacholine Chloride