WEDNESDAY, Nov. 2, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Sinusitis is a common, but often overlooked, cause of chronic cough, according to a Mayo Clinic study presented Wednesday at the annual American College of Chest Physicians meeting in Montreal.
The retrospective review of 672 chronic cough patients treated at the Mayo Clinic over one year found that more than 37 percent of the 132 patients given a diagnostic CT scan had sinusitis -- inflammation of the sinuses).
"This study suggests that sinusitis is more common than we previously thought in people with chronic cough," lead researcher Dr. Kaiser Lim, a pulmonologist and allergist, said in a prepared statement.
"It also confirms our impression in the chronic cough clinic that many of our patients have underlying sinus inflammation as a cause of their coughs. Our findings in this series of patients place sinusitis among the top three reasons for chronic cough, along with acid reflux and rhinitis, inflammation of the nasal passages," Lim said.
Lim noted that doctors often overlook sinusitis as a cause of chronic cough and that many chronic cough patients have been told by their doctors to learn to live with the cough.
"It's also not unusual for chronic coughers to simply give up on getting a diagnosis and treatment for the underlying problem and resign themselves to life with the coughing. Thus, you find situations like women who have to wear sanitary pads for urinary leakage due to their coughing and men who can't have hernia surgery because of their constant coughs," Lim said.
To determine whether sinusitis is the cause of chronic cough, a patient needs to have a complete ear, nose and throat evaluation, including rhinoscopy and/or a CT scan of the sinuses, Lim said.
More information
The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology has more about sinusitis.
