Review Articles

Management of Cough: a practical approach

M. Vally, M. O.E. Irhuma
South African Family Practice | Vol 58, No 4 : July/August| a4486 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/safp.v58i4.4486 | © 2016 M. Vally | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 15 May 2016 | Published: 04 August 2016

About the author(s)

M. Vally, Division of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
M. O.E. Irhuma, Division of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

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Abstract

On a regular day, healthcare providers will be contacted by one or more health seekers presenting with cough as a symptom. Cough has been considered an important physiological reflex that protects the airways from aspiration of foreign materials. Cough is one of the most common symptoms for which people seek medical attention from their healthcare practitioners. The common classifications for cough include acute, subacute and chronic cough. Such classification is time dependant. Acute cough is generally self-limiting, while subacute and chronic coughs have various different causes. There are many different causes of cough, and the common causes of persistent coughs include: upper airway cough syndrome, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD) and even pharmacological therapy. There are other important causes of chronic cough especially in the Southern African region that include: pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), environmental diseases, and others, which will not be covered by this article. Management of subacute and chronic coughs should be individualised according to their cause. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest acute coughs need to be treated. Moreover, there is poor evidence to recommend the use of over the counter (OTC) cough syrups in the management of acute coughs.

Keywords

cough; acute cough; chronic cough; subacute cough; cough syrup

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