Do you suffer from chronic cough? New treatments are being explored.

Chronic cough is defined as a cough which persists for more than eight weeks. There have been various guidelines and definitions in the past for health professionals about how to further investigate, diagnose and treat chronic cough. In people who are non-smokers or don’t have known COPD the most common causes have been thought to be asthma, reflux disease and post nasal drip. In recent years there has been more research suggesting that there are also people who don’t necessarily have one of these underlying conditions but do still have a chronic cough. This is now thought to be due to some over-activity of sensory nerves in the respiratory tract. This type of cough has been termed “cough hypersensitivity syndrome” and can co-exist with the other known causes of chronic cough. New investigational treatments are being developed which aim to decrease the sensory over-sensitivity. Medications such as Amitriptyline and Gabapentin, which act on nerve sensitivity pathways, are sometimes tried in this situation.

A new more specific medication known as a P2X3 inhibitor is now being trialled around the world including at our P3 site in Tauranga.

For more information, please contact our friendly staff in Tauranga, on 07 579 0453, by email to info@p3research.co.nz, or register your interest through our Chronic Cough study page .