Cough physiology in elderly women with nontuberculous mycobacterial lung infections

This study investigates the cough motor response and cough sensitivity in patients with nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection. In elderly white female pulmonary NTM subjects, we demonstrated a capacity to produce coughs similar to that of age-matched control subjects but decreased cough sensitivity in response to a low dose of capsaicin compared with control subjects. These findings are important to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms resulting in NTM disease in elderly white women and/or the syndrome developing in elderly white female NTM patients.

Source: Journal of Applied Physiology - May 18, 2017 Category: Physiology Authors: Tsai, H.-W., Fennelly, K., Wheeler-Hegland, K., Adams, S., Condrey, J., Hosford, J. L., Davenport, P. W. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research