TY - JOUR
T1 - Interdisciplinary collaboration in the diagnosis and management of chronic cough
T2 - the role and importance of primary care providers
AU - Dicpinigaitis, Peter V.
AU - Altman, Kenneth W.
AU - Ulger Isci, Isil
AU - Ke, Xuehua
AU - Blaiss, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The work of Dr Isil Ulger Isci and Dr Xuehua Ke is © 2023 Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and its affiliates. The work of Dr Peter Dicpinigaitis, Dr Kenneth W. Altman and Dr Michael Blaiss is © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Chronic cough (CC) is associated with many conditions, so identifying contributing causes poses a diagnostic challenge. However, guidelines written for US physicians do not explicitly outline suggested roles for primary care providers (PCPs) in the approach to patients with CC, including refractory or unexplained CC. The objective of this review is to describe the role of PCPs in the diagnosis and treatment of CC in adults. This narrative review draws upon literature (identified via a PubMed search performed January 9, 2023, using primary care/disease state–related terms) and expertise from specialist physicians to provide recommendations for CC management in primary care. Cough is one of the top reasons patients seek care from PCPs; accordingly, PCPs are often the first physicians to conduct workup and initiate treatment. Patients with CC often experience a burdensome cough that lasts for years, have high healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), undergo multiple or failed treatment trials, and have limited success finding an etiology. Although specialist referral may be needed for many diagnostic tests, initial aspects of CC workup and management should be completed in primary care. Often more accessible than specialists, real-world evidence on HCRU suggests PCPs are important stakeholders in diagnosing and managing CC, including during initial workup and treatment for the most common causes of CC (i.e. upper-airway cough syndrome, asthma, noneosinophilic asthmatic bronchitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease). Thorough workup at the primary care level may facilitate earlier identification of CC cause(s), improving patient journey to diagnosis and management.
AB - Chronic cough (CC) is associated with many conditions, so identifying contributing causes poses a diagnostic challenge. However, guidelines written for US physicians do not explicitly outline suggested roles for primary care providers (PCPs) in the approach to patients with CC, including refractory or unexplained CC. The objective of this review is to describe the role of PCPs in the diagnosis and treatment of CC in adults. This narrative review draws upon literature (identified via a PubMed search performed January 9, 2023, using primary care/disease state–related terms) and expertise from specialist physicians to provide recommendations for CC management in primary care. Cough is one of the top reasons patients seek care from PCPs; accordingly, PCPs are often the first physicians to conduct workup and initiate treatment. Patients with CC often experience a burdensome cough that lasts for years, have high healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), undergo multiple or failed treatment trials, and have limited success finding an etiology. Although specialist referral may be needed for many diagnostic tests, initial aspects of CC workup and management should be completed in primary care. Often more accessible than specialists, real-world evidence on HCRU suggests PCPs are important stakeholders in diagnosing and managing CC, including during initial workup and treatment for the most common causes of CC (i.e. upper-airway cough syndrome, asthma, noneosinophilic asthmatic bronchitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease). Thorough workup at the primary care level may facilitate earlier identification of CC cause(s), improving patient journey to diagnosis and management.
KW - Cough/diagnosis
KW - cough hypersensitivity syndrome
KW - patient care team
KW - physicians/primary care
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U2 - 10.1080/03007995.2023.2255128
DO - 10.1080/03007995.2023.2255128
M3 - Review article
C2 - 37736002
AN - SCOPUS:85172072747
SN - 0300-7995
VL - 39
SP - 1375
EP - 1381
JO - Current medical research and opinion
JF - Current medical research and opinion
IS - 10
ER -