Diagnosis of prolonged cough

Abstract

 The studies on coughing have mainly been dependent on subjective reporting, the measurement of the sensitivity of the cough reflex, and the quality of life (QOL) in relation to cough. The subjective reporting of symptoms and QOL by parents of children tends to be imprecise and may be influenced by various factors, including the environment, clinical setting, and even the personality of the parents. One of the serious problems is that cough mainly occurs at night, and may not be perceived by either the patients or their parents, thus, the recall of symptoms that occur overnight is poor. We recently developed an original objective method to measure overnight cough in pediatric patients using a cough monitor, which is simple, safe and effort-independent. The aims of the present study were to classify the cough severity and to evaluate a characteristic pattern of cough frequency in children with prolonged cough using our objective cough monitoring system. We want to demonstrate that the nocturnal cough data obtained by objective cough monitoring represents a new step in the treatment of childhood chronic cough.