Abstract
BackgroundThe clinical characteristics of patients with chronic cough are reported only in single-center survey in China, being significantly different from that in western countries. Here, we performed a multicenter study to describe the clinical characteristics of chronic cough patients.MethodsA cross-sectional observational survey was conducted in thirteen tertiary hospitals of Guangdong, South China. Relevant data were recorded using a standardized questionnaire and analyzed, including demographics, educational attainment, cough features, and concomitant symptoms.ResultsOf 933 patients in this study, the median age was 40.0 (IQR 31.0–52.0) years with a peaked age of 30–39 years. The proportion of females (487, 52.2 %) was comparable to that of males (446, 47.8 %). Up to 81.9 % of the patients were non-smokers. More than two-thirds of the subjects with chronic cough had a low educational level. The median cough duration was 6.0 (IQR 3.0–24.0) months, and 73.0 % of chronic cough patients presented with dry cough. Laryngeal paresthesia was the most common concomitant symptom (704, 75.5 %), followed by rhinitis/sinusitis-related (350, 37.5 %) and respiratory symptoms (322, 34.5 %). Rhinitis/sinusitis-related symptoms more frequently occurred in patients with productive cough than in those with dry cough (49.0 % vs. 33.0 %, P < 0.001). Moreover, female patients displayed an older age and a higher prevalence of nocturnal cough compared to male patients (both P < 0.05).ConclusionsOur results show an equal gender, young profile and laryngeal paresthesia in patients with chronic cough, and different clinical features between females and males.
Highlights
The clinical characteristics of patients with chronic cough are reported only in single-center survey in China, being significantly different from that in western countries
Growing evidence suggested that the common medical conditions associated with chronic cough were cough variant asthma (CVA), Lai et al BMC Pulm Med (2021) 21:305 upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), nonasthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis (NAEB) and gastroesophageal reflux cough (GERC) [4,5,6]
Whilst most single-center studies in China showed that chronic cough patients displayed a middleaged predominance with equal gender distribution [8, 9], being different from those in western countries
Summary
The clinical characteristics of patients with chronic cough are reported only in single-center survey in China, being significantly different from that in western countries. We performed a multicenter study to describe the clinical characteristics of chronic cough patients. Whilst most single-center studies in China showed that chronic cough patients displayed a middleaged predominance with equal gender distribution [8, 9], being different from those in western countries. These age and gender disparities, should be further investigated among the cough population living in varied regions
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