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Cough
Published in: Cough 1/2005

Open Access 01-12-2005 | Review

Idiopathic chronic cough: a real disease or a failure of diagnosis?

Author: LPA McGarvey

Published in: Cough | Issue 1/2005

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Abstract

Despite extensive diagnostic evaluation and numerous treatment trials, a number of patients remain troubled by a chronic and uncontrollable cough. Eosinophilic bronchitis, atopic cough and non-acid reflux have been recently added to the diagnostic spectrum for chronic cough. In some cases, failure to consider these conditions may explain treatment failure. However, a subset of patients with persisting symptoms may be regarded as having an idiopathic cough. These individuals are most commonly female, of postmenopausal age and frequently report viral upper respiratory tract infections as an initiating event. This paper seeks to explore the validity of idiopathic cough as a distinct clinical entity.
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Metadata
Title
Idiopathic chronic cough: a real disease or a failure of diagnosis?
Author
LPA McGarvey
Publication date
01-12-2005
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Cough / Issue 1/2005
Electronic ISSN: 1745-9974
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1745-9974-1-9

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