%0 Journal Article
%T Characteristics of Chinese patients with cough in primary care centre
%A Qunying Hong
%A Chunxue Bai
%A Xiangdong Wang
%J Journal of Translational Medicine
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1479-5876-9-149
%X Approximately 18,000 subjects recruited were having daytime or night symptoms of cough and diagnoses of respiratory disease from February 2005 to April 2006 as Survey 1 and from June 2007 to December 2007 as Survey 2. Patients suffering from respiratory malignancy, hyperthyroidism, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, severe hypohepatia or renal dysfunction, pregnancy, possible pregnancy or lactation, neutropenia were not eligible. Information regarding demography, history of allergies, symptomatic profile, treatment and curative effects for cough was elicited.8216 questionnaires were collected in Survey 1 and 9711 in Survey 2. The mean values of ages were 25.7 and 22.3 years old, respectively. Symptoms included expectoration (74% and 76%), wheeze (59% and 74%), breathlessness (22% and 26%), chest pain (9% and 13%) and fever (15% and 18%). About 15% and 23% patients had hypersusceptibility, of whom 6% to 17% had a family history. More than 50% of the cases had histories of allergic rhinitis, asthma, conjunctivitis or atopic dermatitis. Asthma, COPD, and bronchitis were dominant etiologies of cough. Procaterol or the combination of antibiotics and steroids were used as the treatment.Causes and outcomes of cough differed with ages and time in this particular national study, while successful and precise diagnosis and management of cough in primary care settings need to be further improved in China.Cough is one of the most common respiratory symptoms encountered by clinicians [1], with the reported prevalence varying between 5% and 40% [2-4]. Cough is also one of the critical factors affecting the quality of life in patients with respiratory diseases. Cough management has massive economic consequences. The first guideline on the management of cough with a significant positive impact was championed in 1998 [5], followed by the publication of other guidelines on chronic cough [6-9]. The Chinese Medical Association published "Diagnosis and treatment guide (draft) of coug
%U http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/9/1/149