%0 Journal Article
%T Aging deteriorated perception of urge-to-cough without changing cough reflex threshold to citric acid in female never-smokers
%A Satoru Ebihara
%A Takae Ebihara
%A Masashi Kanezaki
%A Peijun Gui
%A Miyako Yamasaki
%A Hiroyuki Arai
%A Masahiro Kohzuki
%J Cough
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1745-9974-7-3
%X Fourteen young, female, healthy never-smokers were recruited via public postings. Twelve elderly female healthy never-smokers were recruited from a nursing home residence. The cough reflex threshold and the urge-to-cough were evaluated by inhalation of citric acid. The cough reflex sensitivities were defined as the lowest concentration of citric acid that elicited two or more coughs (C2) and five or more coughs (C5). The urge-to-cough was evaluated using a modified the Borg scale.There was no significant difference in the cough reflex threshold to citric acid between young and elderly subjects. The urge-to-cough scores at the concentration of C2 and C5 were significantly smaller in the elderly than young subjects. The urge-to-cough log-log slope in elderly subjects (0.73 ¡À 0.71 point ¡¤ L/g) was significantly gentler than those of young subjects (1.35 ¡À 0.53 point ¡¤ L/g, p < 0.01). There were no significant differences in the urge-to-cough threshold estimated between young and elderly subjects.The cough reflex threshold did not differ between young and elderly subjects whereas cognition of urge-to-cough was significantly decreased in elderly subjects in female never-smokers. Objective monitoring of cough might be important in the elderly people.It has been suggested that the increased incidence of pneumonia with aging may be a consequence of impairment of the cough reflex with senescence [1]. However, the data on cough reflex sensitivity in old age are inconsistent. One study has demonstrated that in elderly people the cough reflex to inhaled ammonia gas is reduced [2]. Another study showed that the cough frequency on inhaling distilled water was significantly lower in elderly subjects than in younger subjects [3]. On the other hand, Katsumata and co-workers measured the cough reflex threshold to citric acid in 110 healthy subjects ranging from 20 to 78 years in age, and found that the cough reflex did not decrease with advanced aging [4].Aging is attributed to both
%U http://www.coughjournal.com/content/7/1/3