Learn About Chronic Cough

A cough is an important reflex that helps protect your lungs. An occasional cough is a normal and a healthy function in your body, however if it persists for longer than eight weeks, you should speak with your healthcare provider. Watch the animation and learn more about why we cough?

What Is Chronic Cough?

Chronic cough is a persistent cough that lasts eight weeks or longer on some or most days.  While having a cough is a symptom of many lung diseases as well as some non-lung conditions, a chronic cough often last much longer than eight weeks and continues despite treatment of any other condition and in some cases, when other diseases have been ruled out. 
 There are different types of chronic cough:

• "Symptomatic" chronic cough is caused by an underlying disease and can treated and often resolved once the disease is diagnosed.
• "Refractory" chronic cough is often caused by an underlying reason that persists despite guideline-based treatment.

• “Unexplained” or “idiopathic” chronic cough means that no cause is found for the cough even after a thorough evaluation.  

Terms to Describe Chronic Cough

• Chronic: This means long term.  When diagnosing cough, there are three lengths:
  • "Acute cough" is one that lasts less than three weeks
  • "Subacute cough" is one that lasts three to eight weeks
  • "Chronic cough" lasts longer than eight weeks

• Refractory: This means the cough hasn’t been controlled after multiple testing and specific treatments, as well as having tried various over-the-counter treatments from your healthcare provider.

What Causes Chronic Cough?

Some common causes of chronic cough include:

• Lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, non-asthmatic eosinophilic bronchitis (NAEB) or pulmonary fibrosis.
• Allergies, sinus issues like postnasal drip and digestive issues such as gastroesophageal reflux or GERD
• Medications such as ACE inhibitors for blood pressure
• Smoking tobacco products

Often when the cause of the cough has been identified, it can be successfully treated. But sometimes a chronic cough persists, either because treating the underlying cause is not effective, only one of the causes have been identified or the cause of your chronic cough is unknown.