Cough and asthma.
OBJECTIVE
The intention of this article is to discuss and place into perspective recent articles on cough and asthma.


RESULTS
Asthma continues to be a major diagnosis in most studies of cough. The first prospective study of sub-acute cough demonstrated an asthma incidence lower than that for chronic cough, a logical finding; upper airway cough syndrome often causes cough in the postinfectious state. The first prospective study of cough in infants suggested asthma to be a minor cause of cough in infants, but methodological flaws make the conclusions uncertain. Efforts to separate cough-variant asthma from classic asthma continue. One group has demonstrated that the maximal bronchoconstrictor response in cough-variant asthma is blunted when compared with classic asthma, a possible explanation for the absence of wheeze and dyspnea in cough-variant asthma. Another look at airway resistance showed a less rapid rate of rise in resistance in cough-variant asthma with increasing methacholine dosing than in classic asthma. On the biochemical front, a group has demonstrated differences in vascular endothelial growth factor, which may be the underpinnings of differences between cough-variant asthma and classic asthma.


CONCLUSIONS
Recent data suggest that cough-variant asthma is part of a continuum in the expression of asthma symptoms and in the asthmatic inflammatory response.
Abouzgheib
Wissam
W
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, New Jersey, USA.
Pratter
Melvin R
MR
Bartter
Thaddeus
T
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000403:Airway Resistance / Q000187:drug effects; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016085:Bronchoconstrictor Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003371:Cough / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D016210:Methacholine Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D016085:Bronchoconstrictor Agents; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents; D016210:Methacholine Chloride