{"id":24350,"date":"2025-06-18T12:05:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/?page_id=24350"},"modified":"2025-09-04T11:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T10:54:12","slug":"chronic-cough-paediatric","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/refhelp\/guidelines\/paediatrics\/respiratory-paediatric\/chronic-cough-paediatric\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Cough (Paediatric)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Information<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children with chronic cough present with cough daily for at least 4 consecutive weeks without <\/strong>intermittent periods of being cough-free.  The cough may worsen when there is a new respiratory tract infection.  A structured cough history which includes the age and mode of onset, cough characteristics and time course\/trajectory help determine the etiological classification, need for referral and treatment plan.

The nature of the cough is important: wet; dry; or chronic dry cough with episodes of wet cough.  Distinguishing between a wet and dry cough can be difficult for parents and may not be accurate.  Young children <5 rarely expectorate sputum but tend to swallow it and may vomit with the sputum seen in the vomitus.

Wet cough indicates an underlying cause of mucus hypersecretion or impaired mucociliary clearance, whereas a dry cough indicates an underlying cause of airway irritation or inflammation or a non-airway cause [13].

Predominant causes of chronic cough in children can usually be managed in primary care including: protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB), allergic cough, asthma, post-infectious cough due to prolonged cough reflex hypersensitivity.

Children with PBB typically appear well apart from continuous chronic wet cough and are typically but not exclusively pre-school age.  Cough resolves following a 2-4 week course of appropriate oral antibiotic against penicillin resistant pathogens.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Chronic
NHS Lothian<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

https:\/\/apps.nhslothian.scot\/files\/sites\/2\/Dry-Cough-flowchart.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.R.M & S.U. 18-6-25<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n