Chronic cough is a common reason for people to visit their doctor, especially middle-aged women. New research from Uppsala University suggests that chronic cough may be hereditary. The studies were published in ERJ Open Research and PLOS ONE.
“More than 10% of the population suffers from chronic cough. This condition can reduce quality of life, affect the ability to work, and cause voice problems.
We don’t yet fully understand what causes coughing or how to treat it effectively,” says Össur Ingi Emilsson, a researcher at Uppsala University’s Department of Medical Sciences.
Two recent studies from this department looked into how chronic cough is managed in Swedish healthcare and whether it can be inherited.
One study used data from the Swedish healthcare register and found that 1-2% of the Swedish population sought medical care for chronic cough between 2016 and 2018, mainly in primary care. Most of these patients had a long-term cough.
Women aged 40 to 60 were the most affected, with around 21,000 seeking treatment over the three years. This study was published in PLOS ONE.
“Women seem to have a more sensitive cough reflex, which means they cough more easily than men. I was surprised that only 1-2% of those with a chronic cough sought medical help, even though over 10% are affected.
This might be because there are no effective treatments available. We also found differences in care across different parts of Sweden, suggesting a need for better guidelines on how to investigate and treat chronic cough,” says Emilsson.
Another study by the same team, published in ERJ Open Research, found that chronic cough might be hereditary. They conducted a large study in northern Europe, involving 7,155 parents and their 8,176 adult children aged 20 and over.
They discovered that if a parent had a chronic dry cough, their children were over 50% more likely to have a chronic dry cough too. This link was independent of factors like asthma, gender, and smoking.
“A similar pattern was found for productive cough, but smoking had a bigger impact on its prevalence. These findings suggest a genetic link to chronic cough,” adds Emilsson.
The research team has already started a study on treatments for chronic cough. With these new findings, they are now collaborating with the Icelandic company deCODE genetics to study genetic variants related to chronic cough.
The goal is to identify which genetic variants are linked to chronic cough.
“This could help us understand chronic cough better and eventually lead to better treatments for this challenging condition,” explains Emilsson.
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The research findings can be found in ERJ Open Research.
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