Pathogenetic mechanisms of cough variant asthma and atopic cough

Chronic cough is one of the symptoms most frequently reported by patients and it often poses a diagnostic challenge for the physician. Cough variant asthma is one of the most widely recognized causes of chronic cough, together with gastroesophageal reflux syndrome and chronic inflammation of the upper airways. Atopic cough, a recently reported new clinical entity, presents different clinical and functional characteristics compared with asthma and the other above-mentioned causes of chronic cough. This paper describes the pathogenetic mechanisms of atopic cough and cough variant asthma based on from the most recent literature on the argument.