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No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Chronic cough is a common complaint for patients to seek medical cares all over the world.
Worldwide, about two thirds of chronic cough patients are females. However, in some regions of China the prevalence of chronic cough between sexes is roughly the same. Estrogen and progesterone can not only have an effect on transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 channel, eosinophils and mast cells, but also influence laryngeal dysfunction, gastroesophageal reflux disease and obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome, which may lead to increased cough sensitivity in women.
On the other hand, the quality of life was adversely affected more in female patients with chronic cough. Both hormones possibly cause gender difference in chronic cough. Chronic cough is defined as cough lasting no less than 8 weeks. Chronic cough has been one of the main complaints of patients to seek medical cares, which negatively affects the quality of life and its treatment has been a great challenge in clinical practice Ma et al.
In recent years, a gender difference was found in chronic cough. Most studies showed that it was more common in women, and that it was more common in middle-aged and elderly women with refractory chronic cough or unexplained chronic cough Morice et al.
