Cough frequency patterns differ between patients with and without asthma

Published online: September 18, 2019

Cough is one of the common symptoms of asthma and may relate to its severity, control, and outcome. Furthermore, unlike other asthma characteristics, in clinical practice cough can be evaluated mainly by subjective measures, such as cough questionnaires. Objective determination of cough frequency (CoFr) is generally performed as part of research studies using an ambulatory cough monitoring system. However, little investigation has been made into whether CoFr patterns differ between patients with and without asthma. A recent study in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice conducted by Fukuhara and colleagues investigated whether unique features of CoFr exist in patients with asthma compared to those without asthma using the Leicester Cough Monitoring System.

Objective CoFr during nighttime but not daytime was greater in patients with asthma than in patients without asthma. Additionally, CoFr during nighttime improved more than that during daytime after treatment with inhaled corticosteroids either alone or with long acting β2-agonists in patients with asthma. Therefore, CoFr monitoring, especially nocturnal CoFr monitoring may provide valuable information on the effectiveness of treatment in patients with asthma.

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice is an official journal of the AAAAI, focusing on practical information for the practicing clinician.

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