Causes of Chronic Productive Cough: An approach to management

A chronic ‘productive’ or ‘wet’ cough is a common presenting complaint for patients attending the adult respiratory clinic. Most reviews and guidelines suggest that the causes of a productive cough are the same as those of a non-productive cough and as such the same diagnostic pathway should be followed.We suggest a different diagnostic approach for patients with a productive cough, focusing on the conditions that are the most likely causes of this problem.This review is intended to briefly summarise the epidemiology, clinical features, pathophysiology and treatment of a number of conditions which are often associated with chronic productive cough to aid decision making when encountering a patient with this often distressing symptom.
Source: Respiratory Medicine CME - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Review article Source Type: research