The present study explored whether prolonged cough and cough without cold in the first year of life are linked with childhood asthma. Though wheezing in infancy is related to subsequent asthma, there are limited studies evaluating whether cough can correspondingly affect risk of asthma.

This Infant Immune Study, a non-selected birth cohort, surveyed participants 7 times in the first 9 months of life in relation to presence of wheeze and cough. Prolonged cough was defined as cough with more than 28 days. Parents were questioned at 1 year if the child ever coughed without a cold. Asthma was typified as parental report of physician diagnosis of asthma, with symptoms or medication use between 2–9 years. Logistic regression was done to measure adjusted odds for asthma associated with cough characteristics.

The outcome of the study showed that 24% (97) of children experienced prolonged cough and 23% (95) cough without cold in the first 9 months, respectively. An association was seen with prolonged cough and increased risk of asthma relative to brief cough (OR 3.57, CI: 1.88, 6.76), with the risk being especially high among children of asthmatic mothers. Moreover, an independent correlation was found between cough without cold (OR 3.13, 95% CI: 1.76, 5.57) and risk of childhood asthma. Both relations continued after adjustment for wheeze and total IgE at age 1.

Thus, the study concluded that prolonged cough in infancy and cough without cold are related to childhood asthma, irrespective of infant wheeze suggestive of the fact that characteristics of cough in infancy are early markers of asthma susceptibility, especially among children with maternal asthma.

Source: Clin Exp Allergy. 2015;45(9):1439-1446. doi:10.1111/cea.12573.