Chronic cough in the elderly

Woo-Jung Song; Ha-Kyeong Won; Jin An; Sung-Yoon Kang; Eun-Jung Jo; Yoon-Seok Chang; Byung-Jae Lee; Sang-Heon Cho

doi:10.1016/j.pupt.2019.03.010

Chronic cough in the elderly

Pulm Pharmacol Ther. 2019 Jun:56:63-68. doi: 10.1016/j.pupt.2019.03.010. Epub 2019 Mar 23.

Authors

Woo-Jung Song¹, Ha-Kyeong Won², Jin An², Sung-Yoon Kang³, Eun-Jung Jo⁴, Yoon-Seok Chang⁵, Byung-Jae Lee⁶, Sang-Heon Cho⁷

Affiliations

¹ Airway Sensation and Cough Research Laboratory, Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: swj0126@amc.seoul.kr.
² Airway Sensation and Cough Research Laboratory, Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
³ Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, South Korea.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Busan, South Korea.
⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, South Korea; Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
⁶ Division of Allergy, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
⁷ Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.

PMID: 30914319
DOI: 10.1016/j.pupt.2019.03.010

Abstract

Chronic cough is a multi-factorial syndrome commonly presenting as cough hypersensitivity in adult patients. It is a common medical condition in the communities but is more prevalent in older adults. Elderly patients (≥65 years) frequently suffer from multiple comorbidities, which may lead to more clinical heterogeneity in chronic cough and pose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Hyposensitivity in cough reflex, probably resulting from central nervous system illnesses, is another potential concern. Despite these complexities and challenges, elderly-specific issues have rarely been addressed in current clinical practice guidelines for chronic cough. Considering recent trends in global population aging, the burden of elderly chronic cough is expected to increase into the near future. This review aimed to respond to following clinical questions: (1) is chronic cough a more heterogeneous condition in the elderly compared to younger adults; and (2) are there additional considerations when choosing the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to this condition in the elderly?

Keywords: Aging; Comorbidity; Cough; Cough hypersensitivity; Elderly.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Age Factors
Aged
Chronic Disease
Cough / diagnosis
Cough / physiopathology*
Cough / therapy
Humans