Prolonged cough in children: a summary of the Belgian primary care clinical guideline.
Prolonged cough is a frequent problem in the community. Several studies in the school setting have found that as many as 4.8% to 10.4% of children suffer from prolonged cough. There is no consensual definition of prolonged cough. In this guideline, we define prolonged cough as a daily cough lasting for more than three weeks. The literature review did not identify any quality study on the aetiology of prolonged cough in children in primary care. A diagnostic decision-tree based on the systematic literature review and expert opinion is proposed. Doctors should seek signs of any serious underlyin... Mehr ...
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Dokumenttyp: | Artikel |
Erscheinungsdatum: | 2008 |
Schlagwörter: | Primary Health Care / Practice Guidelines as Topic / Infant / Humans / Decision Trees / Cough / Child / Preschool / Belgium / Antitussive Agents / Adolescent |
Sprache: | Englisch |
Permalink: | https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26918366 |
Datenquelle: | BASE; Originalkatalog |
Powered By: | BASE |
Link(s) : | http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/11379 |
Prolonged cough is a frequent problem in the community. Several studies in the school setting have found that as many as 4.8% to 10.4% of children suffer from prolonged cough. There is no consensual definition of prolonged cough. In this guideline, we define prolonged cough as a daily cough lasting for more than three weeks. The literature review did not identify any quality study on the aetiology of prolonged cough in children in primary care. A diagnostic decision-tree based on the systematic literature review and expert opinion is proposed. Doctors should seek signs of any serious underlying condition. Chronic productive purulent cough should always be investigated. A careful evaluation of the impact of cough on the quality of life of the child is necessary. In absence of signs of specific underlying illness, coughing is generally a self-limiting condition. Symptomatic treatments have not yet been proven to be effective, and many of them may cause serious side effects. Their use should therefore be limited.