Chronic cough is the single most common symptom leading to medical consultation. It may significantly affect quality of life for patients and can indicate underlying disease.
It is important to recognise that a persistent cough is not normal and should be investigated. Assessment of chronic cough should be undertaken differently for children and adults, requiring a focused history of the chronic cough to elicit any “red flag” cough pointers that may indicate underlying disease.
Updated for the first time in more than a decade, the Cough in Children and Adults: Diagnosis, Assessment and Management (CICADA) Guidelines were published in the Medical Journal of Australia in November 2023. Join our expert panel to hear more on the updated evidence and advice, including:
- Clinical algorithms for diagnosis and assessment of chronic cough in both adults and children
- Practical advice for implementation of the Guidelines in primary care
Speakers:
A/Prof Julie Marchant
Paediatric Respiratory Physician, Queensland University of Technology/Queensland Children’s Hospital
A/Prof Julie Marchant is a Paediatric Respiratory Physician at the Queensland Children’s Hospital and a senior research fellow at the Centre for Children’s Health Research, Brisbane, Queensland. Her PhD studies were critical in the building of the clinical definition of protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB) in children. Her current research interests are childhood chronic wet cough, with particular focus on protracted bacterial bronchitis and bronchiectasis in children. Julie is also a member of the Indigenous Respiratory Outreach Care (IROC) team who deliver specialist care to rural and remote settings throughout Queensland. Julie was co-chair of the recently updated chronic cough position statement in children and adults and co-developed the LFA consumer and primary care resources.
Conjoint Professor Peter Wark
Respiratory Physician, Alfred Health
Peter Wark is the Director of Cystic Fibrosis and RES2, AIRMED, Alfred Health, Melbourne. He is a conjoint Professor of Medicine at Monash University. He holds an honorary position as a senior staff specialist in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle and is an adjunct Professor with the University of Newcastle and senior affiliate researcher at the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Immune Health Research programme at HMRI. His research interests are; airway inflammation in the context of chronic airways disease, innate immunity, the role of infection in chronic airways disease and translational clinical trial design. His group has developed expertise in identifying respiratory viruses in airway secretions and developing an in-vitro cell culture model of the airway epithelium that we use to model the effect of infection and inflammation.
Dr David King
Academic General Practitioner, The University of Queensland/St Lucia Medical Centre
David King is an academic GP with an interest in acute and chronic cough. For the updated CICADA position statement he was a member of the diagnosis and management in adults subgroup. Previous teaching roles have included course coordination of the GP clinical rotation, and course coordinator of the Evidence-based medicine stream at the University of Queensland. He has written a series of articles in the online magazine “The Conversation” to educate the general public on issues around cough. Additionally, he has published several articles in medical journals, with a focus on educating other doctors to improve their understanding and treatment of patients presenting with cough.
Facilitated by Ms Michelle Baird
Chronic and Complex Care Nurse Practitioner, Dubbo Health Service
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