[Chronic cough: time to recognize it as a disease]
1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Abstract:
Clinically, chronic cough is typically defined as a condition in which cough is the sole or predominant symptom, persisting for more than 8 weeks, with no significant abnormalities detected on chest X-ray. Increasing evidence suggests that chronic cough represents a disease with a variety of phenotypes, characterized by cough hypersensitivity in clinical and pathophysiological aspects. Unexplained chronic cough or refractory chronic cough constitutes adistinct phenotype. Defining chronic cough as a distinct disease entity-shifting the focus from symptom management to disease management-can help standardize clinical diagnosis and epidemiological studies, update clinical medical education and health insurance reimbursement systems, improve doctor-patient communication, reduce unnecessary investigations and treatments, and promote research into the pathogenesis of chronic cough and the development of new drugs.
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