[Differential diagnosis and treatment of chronic cough]

Postnasal drip, asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease are the underlying causes in almost 90% of cases with chronic cough. Causal treatment is successful in the majority of patients, although in the event of a long-standing cough, it might need to be continued over several weeks. Smoking complicates the identification of cough as a clinical early symptom of an underlying tumor. Cardiac causes are rare, and in most cases are due to the use of ACE-inhibitors. Cough may be triggered by a variety of causes and the therapeutic palette must include several spectra. Since the individual causes often cannot be unequivocally identified, it may be necessary to take a polypragmatic therapeutic approach targeting the three most common causes simultaneously for 7-10 days.