Pediatr Allergy Respir Dis.  2005 Sep;15(3):300-304.

A Case of Psychogenic Cough

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea. dhyunlim@inha.ac.kr

Abstract

Chronic cough-defined as a cough that persists for more than 3 weeks-is one of the most common symptoms during childhood that requires evaluation of causes and appropriate management, because it can be very disturbing to daily activities at home and school. Besides asthma, postnasal drip syndrome, post infectious cough, chronic bronchitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease and congenital anomaly, psychogenic factors are known to be possible causes of chronic cough in children. "Habit cough" and "respiratory tic" are different names given to psychogenic coughs. Psychogenic cough is croupy, loud, and unresponsive to antitussives or bronchodilators. It becomes more noticeable to attention and disappears during sleep. Over 90% of cases of psychogenic cough have been reported in patients under 18 years of age and its diagnosis is often delayed due to the time consumed for exclusion of other underlying organic disorders and the recognition of psychogenic factors as an etiology. We report on the case of an 11-year-old boy who presented with chronic cough of a barking nature and was diagnosed as having psychogenic cough by characteristics and 24-hour monitoring of cough frequency and who was treated by psychological interview.

Keyword

Chronic cough; Psychogenic cough; Habit cough; Respiratory tic

MeSH Terms

Antitussive Agents
Asthma
Bronchitis, Chronic
Bronchodilator Agents
Child
Cough*
Diagnosis
Gastroesophageal Reflux
Humans
Interview, Psychological
Male
Antitussive Agents
Bronchodilator Agents
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