Chronic cough hypersensitivity syndrome.

Abstract

Chronic cough has been suggested to be due to three conditions, asthma, post nasal drip, and reflux disease. A different paradigm has evolved in which cough is viewed as the primary condition characterised by afferent neuronal hypersensitivity and different aspects of this syndrome are manifest in the different phenotypes of cough. There are several advantages to viewing cough hypersensitivity as the unifying diagnosis; Communication with patients is aided, aetiology is not restricted and therapeutic avenues opened. Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome is a more applicable label to embrace the clinical manifestations of this disabling disease.