CICADA: Cough in children and Adults: Diagnosis and Assessment. Australian Cough Guidelines summary statement

• Cough is a common and distressing symptom that results in significant health care costs from medical consultations and medication use. 

• Cough is a reflex activity with elements of voluntary control that forms part of the somatosensory system involving visceral sensation, a reflex motor response and associated behavioural responses. 

• At the initial assessment for chronic cough, the clinician should elicit any alarm symptoms that might indicate a serious underlying disease and identify whether there is a specific disease present that is associated with chronic cough. 

• If the examination, chest x-ray and spirometry are normal, the most common diagnoses in ADULTS are asthma, rhinitis or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). The most common diagnoses in CHILDREN are asthma and protracted bronchitis. 

• Management of chronic cough involves addressing the common issues of environmental exposures and patient or parental concerns, then instituting specific therapy. 

• In ADULTS, conditions that are associated with removable causes or respond well to specific treatment include protracted bacterial bronchitis, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use, asthma, GORD, obstructive sleep apnoea and eosinophilic bronchitis. 

• In CHILDREN, diagnoses that are associated with removable causes or respond well to treatment are exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, protracted bronchitis, asthma, motor tic, habit and psychogenic cough. 

• In ADULTS, refractory cough that persists after therapy is managed by empirical inhaled corticosteroid therapy and speech pathology techniques.