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Dr. Andrew Rynne
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Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Article Home Adult and Senior Health Causes of cough

Causes of cough

Cough is a sudden and often repetitively occurring defense mechanism to clear the larger airway passages from excess secretions, irritants, foreign body particles, and micro-organisms.

 

Coughing is classified as

  • Acute – present less than 3 weeks
  • Sub acute – if present between 3-8 weeks
  • Chronic – when lasting longer than 8 weeks

Acute dry cough

Type of cough

Cause

Exertional cough with dyspnea

Heart failure

Brassy cough

Laryngitis

Barking cough

Hysterical

Bovine cough

Recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis

Whooping cough

Pertussis

Night /episodic cough

Acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma and heart failure

Early morning cough

Smokers

Allergic cough (dry, irritating cough)

Common cold, allergic rhinitis

Sudden cough while eating with postural variation

Foreign body

 

 

Acute productive cough

Character of mucus

Cause

Caseous

Pulmonary Tuberculosis

White grey

Smoker or irritation

Thick mucoid

Acute exacerbation of bronchial asthma

Pinky and frothy

Pulmonary edema

Profuse and watery

Lung cancer (alveolar cell cancer)

Saliva

Hysterical

Yellow/green

Infection

Brownish

Amoebic lung abscess

 

 

Sub acute cough

  • Sinusitis
  • Post infectious cough
  • Asthma

Chronic cough

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