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CICADA: Cough in Children and Adults: Diagnosis and Assessment. Australian Cough Guidelines summary statement

Peter G Gibson, Anne B Chang and Andrew S Kemp
Med J Aust 2010; 192 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03683.x
Published online: 7 June 2010

In reply: The recently published CICADA cough guidelines1 draw attention to the important role of systematic assessment of chronic cough in children and adults, and provide an appraisal of the evidence that treating specific conditions will improve cough. Mullins and colleagues raise a key point that requires emphasis, and is relevant beyond the instance of allergic rhinitis that they cite. Chronic cough is associated with several common conditions, such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and sleep apnoea. For each of these conditions, there are well established treatment guidelines that describe the effectiveness of treating that primary condition.


  • 1 John Hunter Hospital, Newcastle, NSW.
  • 2 Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, QLD.
  • 3 The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW.



  • 1. Gibson PG, Chang AB, Glasgow NJ, et al. CICADA: Cough in Children and Adults: Diagnosis and Assessment. Australian Cough Guidelines summary statement. Med J Aust 2010; 192: 265-271. <MJA full text>
  • 2. Wallace DV, Dykewicz MS, Bernstein DI, et al. Joint Task Force on Practice; American Academy of Allergy; Asthma & Immunology; American College of Allergy; Asthma and Immunology; Joint Council of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The diagnosis and management of rhinitis: an updated practice parameter. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2008; 122 (2 Suppl): S1-S84. Erratum in J Allergy Clin Immunol 2008; 122: 1237.
  • 3. Möller C, Dreborg S, Ferdousi HA, et al. Pollen immunotherapy reduces the development of asthma in children with seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis (the PAT-study). J Allergy Clin Immunol 2002; 109: 251-256.
  • 4. Ott H, Sieber J, Brehler R, et al. Efficacy of grass pollen sublingual immunotherapy for three consecutive seasons and after cessation of treatment: the ECRIT study. Allergy 2009; 64: 1394-1401.

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