Management of Cough

Abstract

Cough is the most frequent symptom for which patients consult with their health care provider throughout the world. This symptom could be happened not only in sick individuals but also healthy individuals. At some stage, it is distressing, inhibits normal social activities, and reduces quality of life. Besides these detrimental effects, cough is the most effective defense mechanism to eliminate foreign materials, including various pathogens, from the respiratory tract. It begins with a series of breathing maneuvers which triggers sudden expulsion of air which is divided into three phases, i.e. inspiration, compression, and expiration phase. Cough occurs due to activation of mechanical or chemical sensory receptors in the larynx and lower respiratory tract which stimulates reflex arc complex. This stimulus is then transmitted to the afferent pathway to the cough center in the medulla through the vagus nerve to trigger expiration muscles to produce cough. It is important to know the cause of cough because cough is an indicator for patients and doctors for early diagnosis and therapy of disease. Therefore, cough is classified into acute, subacute, and chronic according to its duration. Available medications for symptomatic management of cough are inadequate due to lack of proven efficacy and/or their undesirable or intolerable side effects. This article aims to provide information on cough management to improve therapeutic effectiveness and patient quality of life.

Pharmacy Staff's Recommendations for Self-Medication Requests on Non-Infectious Productive Cough: A Study in Padang City, Indonesia

“…The number of mistakes in recommendations by pharmacists found in this study is quite surprising, although there have been many studies which state that for productive cough the medicine is an expectorant [21,22]. Apart from that, the need to improve pharmacists' knowledge is urgent because the public has high expectations of the accuracy of pharmacists' recommendations for requests for self-medication drugs.…”

Pediatric cough as a symptom: Tips for management

“…Cough occurs as a result of a series of respiratory maneuvers involving a visceral sensation, a reflex motor reaction, and corresponding behavioral responses [7,8]. On stimulation by appropriate stimuli (such as excessive mucus or foreign substances, particulate/dust, chemical irritants), the mechanical and chemical receptors that are mainly present in the larynx, trachea, the carina, and the pharynx [7,[9][10][11] initiate the cough reflex by sending afferent sensory inputs through the vagus nerve to the "cough center" in the medulla [9,10,12]. The putative cough center is distinct from the respiratory center and is under voluntary and involuntary control.…”

Knowledge and Perception of Self-Medication of Cough Medication in Pedicab Drivers in Surabaya

“…24,30,31 Cough symptom in smokers that is often experienced is a cough with phlegm, which should receive mucolytic cough medicine therapy, because it can reduce the viscosity of excess mucus due to cilia damage. 32,33 In addition to the risk of side effects, inappropriate cough medicine selfmedication can affect the economic burden of a country. Self-medication has become the biggest socio-health and economic problem of various societies.…”