Commonest causes of chronic cough in patients investigated in specialist clinics
| Reference | Patients (female) | Patients improved % | Diagnosis % of total | |||
| Asthma syndrome | Oesophageal disease | Rhinitis | Most common other % | |||
| Irwin et al. 19813 | 49 (27) | 98 | 25 | 10 | 29 | Chronic bronchitis 12 |
| Poe et al. 1982 4 | 109 (68) | 96 | 36 | 0 | 8 | Post infectious 27 |
| Poe et al. 1989 5 | 139 (84) | 88 | 35 | 5 | 26 | Idiopathic 12 |
| Irwin et al. 1990 6 | 102 (59) | 99 | 24 | 21 | 41 | Chronic bronchitis 5 |
| Hoffstein et al. 1994 7 | 228 (139) | 91 | 25 | 24 | 26 | Post infectious 21 |
| O'Connell et al. 1994 8 | 87 (63) | 68 | 6 | 10 | 13 | Idiopathic 22 |
| Smyrnios et al. 1995 9 | 71 (32) | 97 | 24 | 15 | 40 | Chronic bronchitis 11 |
| Mello et al. 1996 10 | 88 (64) | 98 | 14 | 40 | 38 | Bronchiectasis 4 |
| Marchesani et al. 1998 11 | 87 (68) | 91 | 14 | 5 | 56 | Chronic bronchitis 16 |
| McGarvey et al. 1998 12 | 43 (29) | 82 | 23 | 19 | 21 | Idiopathic 18 |
| Palombini et al. 1999 13 | 78 (51) | 59 | 41 | 58 | Bronchiectasis 18 | |
| Brightling et al. 1999 14 | 91 | 93 | 31 | 8 | 24 | Post-viral 13 |
| Simpson G et al. 1999 15 | 86 (51) | 92 | 6 | 22 | 28 | Post-viral 13 |
| Total n | 1258 | 317 | 250 | 430 | ||
| Mean % | 91 | 25 | 20 | 34 | ||
Data are presented as n and %