Upper Airway Cough Syndrome in 103 Children

Background: In China, upper airway cough syndrome (UACS) is only less frequent than cough-variant asthma and accounts for 24.71% of chronic cough. This study aimed to determine the pathogenetic constituents and factors affecting UACS in children of different age groups, and to identify clinical clues for diagnosing UACS and a method for curative effect evaluation.

Methods: A total of 103 children with UACS whose chief complaint was chronic cough were studied from January to November 2013 at Children's Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics. According to their age, children with UACS were divided into 3 groups: nursing children, pre-school children, and school-age children. We analyzed the differences in pathogenetic constituents and factors affecting UACS in children. The effect of UACS treatment was evaluated by the visual analog scale (VAS) and an objective examination. Chi-squared test and analysis of variance were performed with the SPSS 19.0 statistical software.

Results: There was a high incidence of UACS in school-age children. Rhinitis with adenoid hypertrophy was the main cause of 103 suspected UACS cases. Adenoidal hypertrophy was the major cause of UACS in the pre-school children group, while rhinitis was the major reason in the nursing children and school-age children groups. Among the 103 children, there were 45 allergen-positive children, with no significant difference among different age groups. VAS scores in the different disease groups after treatment were lower than those before treatment (all P < 0.01). VAS scores in different disease groups showed significant differences, except for 12 vs. 24 weeks after treatment (P = 0.023). Different age groups had different secondary complaints.

Conclusions: There are different pathogeneses in different UACS age groups. Clinical treatment efficacy of children with UACS can be evaluated by the VAS combined with an objective examination. We recommend that the course of treatment should be 12 weeks.