What's wrong with coughing from time to time

Occasional coughing problems will have a certain impact on healthy life, so we need to pay attention to analyze what is going on. For example, friends with a history of allergies or asthma must pay attention, as this is the most likely to cause coughing.

1. History of allergies: The patient may have a clear history of allergic diseases, such as allergic rhinitis, eczema, etc. Some patients can be traced back to a family history of allergies.

2. Clinical manifestations: Cough may be a symptom of asthma, mainly a long-term stubborn dry cough, which is often triggered by inhalation of irritating odors, cold air, contact with allergens, exercise or upper respiratory tract infection. Some patients have no triggering factors. It often worsens at night or early morning. Some patients have a certain seasonality in their attacks, mostly in spring and autumn.

3. Physical signs: Although bronchospasm may occur, it mostly occurs in the small distal bronchi or transient spasms, so wheezing is rarely or not heard during physical examination.

4. Affected population: The incidence rate is higher in children. It has been found that more than 30% of children's dry cough is related to cough variant asthma. In adults, the age of onset of cough variant asthma is higher than that of typical asthma. About 13% of patients are over 50 years old, and it is more common in middle-aged women.

Because the early symptoms of cough variant asthma are easy to ignore, many patients delay early treatment, which causes great harm in the later stages. Because of the retention of gas in the alveoli during cough variant asthma attacks, the alveoli are over-filled with air and the intrapulmonary pressure increases significantly. Chronic asthma and emphysema that are already complicated by it can cause bullae to rupture, forming spontaneous pneumothorax, causing pneumothorax and even accompanied by mediastinal emphysema. Therefore, early and standardized treatment is key.