Pediatr. praxi. 2008;9(5):309-314

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSTICS AND TREATMENT OF THE COUGH CHILDREN

MUDr. Petr Koťátko, MUDr. Martin Magner

Klinika dětského a dorostového lékařství 1. LF UK a VFN, Praha

Cough influences the quality of life in children and their parents considerably. It is the most frequent reason of medical consultation in children. An acute cough is ussualy an issue in the general practitioner´s praxis, the chronic cough after the basal examining should be evaluated in detail by children-lung specialist. The causality range of acute and chronic cough is broad. Chronic cough may be determined as a specific cough (with known etiology) and non-specific (dry cough without known etiology). The chronic cough in children is defined as a cough > 4 weeks duration based on the current data of cough related to acupe upper respiratory infects in children. The acute cough is mostly caused by upper airways infection, acute bronchitis, bronchopneumonia, mostly of viral etiology. Chronic cough may be caused by pulmonary or extrapulmonary reasons. Despite many investigations the etiology of cough remains sometimes elusive. Such cough is termed as „psychogenic“.

Keywords: Key words: acute cough, chronic cough, non-specific cough, specific cough, asthma bronchiale.

Published: November 1, 2008  Show citation