- Weili Wei: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Tongji Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
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.
OBJECTIVES: 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.