The Relationship Between Psychogenic Cough and the Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis of Asthma: A Review

The differential diagnoses of persistent nonproductive cough include numerous pulmonary and nonpulmonary organic disorders as well as functional illnesses. Many diseases can cause cough, and several studies have shown asthma among the most common etiologies associated with chronic cough in adult nonsmokers, as well as children. Psychogenic cough and its relationship to asthma and other asthma-like illnesses is complex since distinct maladies with similar features may coexist individually or in combination in any given patient. While chronic cough may occur as a sole presenting manifestation of bronchial asthma in all age groups, recent findings suggest that most children with persistent cough without other respiratory symptoms do not have asthma. Since several organic, as well as functional diseases, may present with persistent cough as their sole manifestation in either adults or children, cough should not be used as a single or major determinant to diagnose and treat asthma, especially when empirically focused therapy trials fail. Given the range of illnesses causing cough, no single management guideline can be expected to be universally effective.