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Sep 9, 2009 4:41 pm US/Eastern
Allergies, Reflux Behind Many Chronic Coughs
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
Up to one in 10 children have a chronic cough. In some cases, why there's a chronic cough can be a puzzle.
Children coughing for weeks on end can worry parents it's something serious.
"I do remember them having croup, and that was scary," says one woman walking downtown.
"I had one daughter who had asthma," mentions another woman.
"Whooping cough, and I guess even tuberculosis," one father says about what he worried about when his children had prolonged coughs.
"Probably's a bad cold or something like that, but I would definitely take them to the doctor if it's for weeks," says another mom.
Usually it's the lingering after-effects of a cold.
"We see a lot of patients with chronic cough and it's typically very frustrating. Many of them have a viral illness and they cough and cough and cough," says Dr. Andrew MacGinnitie, an allergist at Children's Hospital.
But it may also be something else. A small study of just 40 kids ages 5 to 12 in the journal "Chest" reminds doctors and parents to consider reflux and allergies as possible reasons for a cough lasting longer than eight weeks.
"What they found was that roughly a quarter of the kids had reflux, a quarter had allergies and probably 20 percent combined asthma and or allergies," Dr. MacGinnitie explains.
Acid reflux is the backward flow of stomach acid into the esophagus.
"That triggers a reflex to cough and clear your throat," he says.
An allergy is the immune system reacting to something in the environment.
"You get a lot of mucus in your nose, it drips back down into your throat and that makes you feel like you need to cough and clear your throat," he continues.
For the purposes of the research, the children in the study had lots of involved testing with tubes and probes of their lungs and stomach.
In "real life," some basic tests along with the medical history would point to the most likely cause and appropriate treatment, with re-evaluation in a few weeks if things weren't getting better.
While chronic cough can be a sign of cancer in adults, that would be uncommon in children.
Of course, allergies and reflux can be a cause of chronic cough in adults, too.
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