title: Comparison of cause distribution between elderly and non-elderly patients with chronic cough.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The causes of chronic cough in elderly patients have not been specifically investigated. Therefore, it remains to be determined whether chronic cough differs between elderly and non-elderly patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the distribution of causes of chronic cough in elderly patients in comparison with etiologies of chronic cough observed in non-elderly patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 2,989 new patients presenting consecutively to the Department of Respiratory Medicine of the Tongji Hospital over a 1.5-year period, 287 patients with chronic cough were enrolled in the study. Patients aged > or =60 years were assigned to the elderly group. The elderly group comprised 104 patients and the non-elderly group the remaining 183 patients. The causes of cough were primarily evaluated according to a modification of Irwin's anatomic diagnostic protocol which included induced sputum cytology, verified by the specific therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cough-variant asthma (34.6 vs. 41.5%) and upper airway cough syndrome (19.3 vs. 23.5%) were the most common causes of chronic cough both in the elderly and non-elderly groups. The distribution of causes and frequency were significantly different between elderly and non-elderly groups: angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)-induced cough (16.3 vs. 1.7%, chi(2) value = 22.12, p < 0.001) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD; 10.6 vs. 3.7%, chi(2) value = 5.14, p = 0.02) were more common in the elderly group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A more frequent incidence of ACEI-induced cough and GERD is the distinctive feature in the cause distribution between elderly and non-elderly patients with chronic cough.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Weili
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Hanjing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Cuiqin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhongmin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003371:Cough / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies