Clinical features of upper airway cough syndrome in adults: an analysis of 139 cases

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the clinical features of adult patients with upper airway cough syndrome（UACS） and the differences in clinical features between patients with allergic rhinitis（AR） and those with non-allergic rhinitis（NAR）.Methods A prospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 139 patients with UACS who were treated in the Otolaryngology Department of The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from July 2021 to June 2022，and they were divided into NAR group and AR group.Results There were 139 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of UACS，with a median age of 39 years，and female patients accounted for 55.4%. Among these 139 patients，there were 49 patients with AR（35.3%） and 90 patients with NAR（64.7%）. The median course of cough was 8（4，24） months，and the mean Leicester Cough Questionnaire（LCQ） score was 13.39±2.60. The most common symptoms were rhinorrhea（84.2%） and nasal congestion（72.7%），and the most common abnormalities on sinus CT were nasal septum deviation（55.3%） and nasal turbinate hypertrophy（52.4%）. UACS was the sole cause of chronic cough in 93 patients （66.9%）. The AR group had a significantly higher proportion of patients with asthma than the NAR group（40.8% vs. 3.3%，P<0.001），and there were no significant differences between the two groups in age，sex，course of the disease，quality of life score，and white blood cell count.Conclusion NAR is the most common cause of UACS. Except that patients with chronic cough and AR tend to have itchy nose，the other clinical features are similar between chronic cough with AR or NAR. Nasal septal deviation is more common in patients with NAR，while turbinate hypertrophy is more common in patients with AR. Further studies are needed to prove the association between NAR and UACS.