Helicobacter pylori infection and chronic persistent cough: is there an association?

ABSTRACT

Chronic persistent cough is a common clinical problem that sometimes remains without an identifiable cause. To study a potential association between Helicobacter pylori infection and chronic persistent cough. A clinical observational study with symptom analysis, including 162 patients whose main presenting complaint was chronic persistent cough of an unidentifiable cause [study group] and 42 patients with chronic nonspecific laryngopharyngeal manifestations not including chronic cough [control group]. H. pylori active infection was present in 86.4 per cent [140/162] of patients in the chronic cough group opposed to 45.2 per cent [19/42] in the control group as confirmed by detection of H. pylori antigen in stool specimens. This difference was statistically significant [P < 0.001]. There was a significant improvement of chronic cough in 75.4 per cent [98/130] of patients after successful H. pylori eradication using appropriate medical therapy [P < 0.001]. H. pylori infection might lead to laryngopharyngeal irritation with several manifestations including chronic persistent cough; the exact mechanism of which still needs further research