ABSTRACT
Psychogenic cough or ‘‘habit cough’’ is a nonorganic cough that typically
occurs in children or adolescents (1-7) but has been reported in adults (4,8,9). It is thought that there may not be underlying psychopathology
although children may have school phobia or use the cough for attention
getting (3,5,10). The cough may increase in intensity or frequency in the
presence of medical personnel and be nonexistent during sleep or distrac-
tion. Most reports of psychogenic cough note that the subjects are not par-
ticularly troubled by the repetitive coughing in the setting of frustration on
the part of teachers or parents. Some adults may be depressed, however (9).
Antitussives and antiasthma medications including courses of prednisone are ineffective in suppressing the cough. The workup for common causes
of cough such as postnasal drip from rhinitis, sinusitis, gastroesophageal
reflux, and asthma will be normal or there will be a limited to absent
response to pharmacotherapy . There may be a poor effort on inspiration
during spirometry such that the flow-volume tracing will be consistent with
extrathoracic obstruction.
