New cough guidelines issued

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Chest experts have come up with a comprehensive set of recommendations on how to diagnose and manage cough in children and adults.
A cough is the main reason why people seed medical attention. A cough can be accompanied by other worrying symptoms, such as coughing up blood, or it may become chronic. Now a group of cough experts have issued some new guidelines on how to manage the condition.

They say that over the counter medications, including expectorants, do not treat the underlying cause of cough. The only one that is really any good is an older variety of antihistamine with a decongestant. This can be used for acute cough or upper airway cought syndrome (formerly known as nasal drip syndrome.)

The guidelines look at the underlying reasons for a cough, such as asthma, smoking, taking angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Acute cough generally comes with the common cold and a chronic cough often persists after a respiratory tract infection. Chronic cough can seriously impair quality of life. The experts hope these new guidelines will help speedier diagnosis and management so coughs clear up quicker.

Source
Chest January 2006

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