title: [The significance of cough reflex sensitivity test in chronic cough].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Preliminary study of the cough reflex sensitivity test in chronic cough patients with different gender, disease duration and causes to evaluate the clinical diagnostic significance of the test and further provide some information for the treatment of chronic cough.
  
  
  METHODS
  Totally 108 chronic cough patients in our hospital were enrolled in the study with the final diagnosis of upper airway cough syndrome (UACS), cough variant asthma (CVA) and gastroesophageal reflux cough (GERC). They all went through the cough reflex sensitivity test and the retrospective analysis of the results was made.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 108 patients with chronic cough (76 UACS, 19 CVA and 13 GERC), lgC5 was significantly slower in the female (1.80) than the male (2.40, P < 0.05) and in the patients with cough duration over 12 months (1.80) than those with cough duration under 12 months (2.40, P < 0.05). Cough sensitivity in patients with different causes was significantly different (P < 0.05) with lower lgC5 in GERC patients (1.49) than CVA (2.40, P < 0.05) and UACS (2.40, P < 0.05) patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cough sensitivity is different in chronic cough patients with different gender, disease duration and causes. Cough reflex sensitivity test is of great value in the etiology diagnosis of chronic cough.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400037, China.
authors.forename: Qian-li
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zan-sheng
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Chang-zheng
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003371:Cough / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012018:Reflex; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult