The most common medical condition is chronic cough. The objective of the study was to evaluate causes of chronic cough in non-smoking patients and to look out for demographic factors that are associated with different cough causes. The etiology of cough was assessed by medical history, diagnostic investigations along with the response to specific treatment. Patients with significant and specific abnormalities in the chest radiograph or spirometry were not included. The study included almost 131 non-smoking patients with an average age 54 years (77 % females).

The most common causes of cough were gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which was 62 % and upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), which was 46 %. Cough variant asthma were diagnosed in almost 32 (25 %) patients and non-asthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis (NAEB) were diagnosed in and 19 (15 %) patients. Other causes of cough were found in almost 27 patients (21 %).

The more common cause of chronic cough in women than in men was asthma (31 % vs. 3 %). A reverse relationship was confirmed for upper airway cough syndrome (39 % vs. 67 %). Patients with chronic cough who were aged >50 years were more probable to get diagnosed with less common causes of cough.

The study concluded that the most common causes of chronic cough are gastroesophageal reflux disease and upper airway cough syndrome. Asthma-associated cough is diagnosed more often in females, whereas UACS-associated cough is more common in males.

Source: Dąbrowska M, Grabczak EM, Arcimowicz M, et al. Causes of Chronic Cough in Non-smoking Patients. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2015;873:25-33. doi: 10.1007/5584_2015_153. PMID: 26285610.