[An epidemiologic study of cough in young college students in Guangzhou].
OBJECTIVE
To study the prevalence of cough and its risk factors in young college students in Guangzhou.


METHODS
Using a questionnaire with uniform scheme, a cluster-randomized sampling survey was conducted among young college students in Guangzhou. Fluoroscopy of chest was performed in subjects with persisted cough longer than 8 weeks.


RESULTS
There were 1087 cases with complete data from 1091 people including 648 males, 439 females with an average age of 21.16 years old. The total prevalence of cough was 10.9%. Difference in prevalence of cough between males and females showed no significance (10.3% vs. 11.9%, P > 0.05). There were also no significant differences between male and female in prevalence rates of acute cough (6.9% vs. 8.7%, P > 0.05) and chronic cough (3.4% vs. 3.2%, P > 0.05). Under chronic cough condition, cough was more likely to be the only or major symptom than under acute cough condition (77.8% vs. 44.6%, chi(2) = 11.166, P < 0.01). Nasal disease was an important risk factor to the development of chronic cough, which was found in 33.3% of the patients with chronic cough and when having chronic nasal diseases.


CONCLUSIONS
Cough seemed a common disorder in young college student in Guangzhou and there was no significant difference in prevalence between males and females. Nasal disease was an important risk factor to chronic cough.
Chen
Ru-chong
RC
Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Lai
Ke-fang
KF
Liu
Chun-li
CL
Luo
Wei
W
Zhong
Nan-shan
NS
D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003371:Cough / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009668:Nose Diseases / Q000150:complications; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult