Causes of chronic cough in adolescent and adult patients

Background: Adolescents differ from adults in certain aspects, but the differences in the etiology of chronic cough between adolescents and adults have not been specifically investigated. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the causes of chronic cough in adolescent patients in comparison with those in adult patients. Methods: The electronic medical records were retrospectively screened for patients with the initial diagnosis of chronic cough from 2016 to 2018. Clinical variables and the causes of chronic cough were collected in patients who met inclusion criteria. Patients were assigned to adolescent (13 to 18 years) and adult (> 18 years) group based on age. The distribution of causes of chronic cough was compared by t-test and χ2 tests between adolescent and adult groups using SPSS. Significant level was set at 0.05. Results: The enrolled patients consisted of 16 adolescents and 73 adults with chronic cough. The most common causes of chronic cough were cough-variant asthma and upper airway cough syndrome in both adolescents and adults. The frequency of post infectious cough in adolescents was significantly higher than that in adults (12.5% vs. 1.36%; p= 0.024). Although no significant difference between the two groups was found, there was a trend that suggested that habitual cough was more common in the adolescent group (6.25%:1.36%); while gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) did not show similar results (6.25%:20.54%). Conclusion: There are moderate differences in the causes of chronic cough between adolescent and adult patients. Realizing those differences would be helpful for clinicians to establish an appropriate differential diagnosis and make referral decisions.