Chronic cough: A disorder of response inhibition?

Abstract

Many physicians will agree that chronic cough can be difficult to control and, for some patients, disease-modifying therapies fail to alleviate their cough. This is a condition now commonly referred to as refractory chronic cough and is present in a significant number of people in the community [1, 2]. Our understanding of the mechanisms of cough has expanded dramatically in recent years [3], but it wasn't all that long ago when suggestions were rife that refractory chronic cough was a condition more likely “in the patient's head” than pathobiological in nature. Although the acceptance of refractory chronic cough as a real clinical entity is now well established, a study reported by Cho et a..