Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Nov;152(5):1021-1037.
doi: 10.1016/j.chest.2017.08.009. Epub 2017 Aug 22.

Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Treatment for Acute Cough Associated With the Common Cold: CHEST Expert Panel Report

Mark A Malesker  1 , Priscilla Callahan-Lyon  2 , Belinda Ireland  3 , Richard S Irwin  4 ; CHEST Expert Cough Panel
Collaborators, Affiliations

Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Treatment for Acute Cough Associated With the Common Cold: CHEST Expert Panel Report

Mark A Malesker et al. Chest. 2017 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Acute cough associated with the common cold (CACC) causes significant impairment in quality of life. Effective treatment approaches are needed for CACC. We conducted a systematic review on the management of CACC to update the recommendations and suggestions of the CHEST 2006 guideline on this topic.

Methods: This systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) asked the question: Is there evidence of clinically relevant treatment effects for pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic therapies in reducing the duration/severity of acute CACC? Studies of adults and pediatric patients with CACC were included and assessed for relevance and quality. Based on the systematic review, guideline suggestions were developed and voted on using the American College of Chest Physicians organization methodology.

Results: Six systematic reviews and four primary studies identified from updated literature searches for each of the reviews or from hand searching were included and reported data on 6,496 participants with CACC who received one or more of a variety of interventions. The studies used an assortment of descriptors and assessments to identify CACC.

Conclusions: The evidence supporting the management of CACC is overall of low quality. This document provides treatment suggestions based on the best currently available evidence and identifies gaps in our knowledge and areas for future research.

Keywords: acute cough; common cold; pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Systematic review flow diagram., , , , , , SRs = systematic reviews.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Unsinnige Husten-Therapien vermeiden.
    Dorsch W. Dorsch W. MMW Fortschr Med. 2019 Mar;161(4):30. doi: 10.1007/s15006-019-0220-6. MMW Fortschr Med. 2019. PMID: 30830614 Review. German. No abstract available.

References

    1. Druce H.M., Dicpinigaitis P., Eccles R., Turner R., Adeleke M. Nationwide internet survey on the symptom of cough associated with common cold. J Gen Intern Med. 2016;31(2 suppl):S309–S310. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Common colds: protect yourself and others. http://www.cdc.gov/features/rhinoviruses/. Accessed April 30, 2016.
    1. Dicpinigaitis P.V., Eccles R., Blaiss M.S., Wingertzahn M.A. Impact of cough and common cold on productivity, absenteeism, and daily life in the United States: ACHOO survey. Curr Med Res Opin. 2015;31(8):1519–1525. - PubMed
    1. Consumer Healthcare Products Association. Statistics on OTC use. http://www.chpa.org/marketstats.aspx. Accessed May 14, 2016.
    1. Consumer HealthCare Products Association. Statistics on OTC use. OTC Sales by Category 2013-2016. Available at: http://www.chpa.org/OTCsCategory.aspx. Accessed June 08, 2016.

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances