Chronic cough and esomeprazole: a double-blind placebo-controlled parallel study.

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Pulmonology
• Clinical Pharmacology

Background:

• Gastro-oesophageal reflux is a suspected cause of chronic cough.
• Current guidelines recommend empirical anti-reflux medication for chronic cough.
• Esomeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor used for acid reflux.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the efficacy of esomeprazole versus placebo in treating chronic cough.
• To evaluate the impact of esomeprazole on cough quality of life and symptom severity.

Main Methods:

• Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group study.
• Fifty adult non-smokers with chronic cough were enrolled.
• Assessed cough scores, quality of life, and symptom diaries over 8 weeks.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in cough scores between esomeprazole and placebo groups.
• Both groups showed improvement from baseline.
• A trend towards improvement in cough diary scores was observed in the esomeprazole arm for patients with dyspepsia.

Conclusions:

• Esomeprazole did not demonstrate a clinically significant benefit over placebo for chronic cough.
• A notable placebo effect was observed in the treatment of chronic cough.