Chronic cough, itch, skin pain and other unpleasant skin sensations are frequently associated: Results from survey on 8077 individuals

Abstract

Abstract Background Neuronal sensitisation frequently occurs in patients with pain, itch and cough. Objectives To study the association of chronic pruritus, as well as other unpleasant skin sensations (especially skin pain), and chronic cough. Methods An online questionnaire survey was conducted on a representative sample of 8077 individuals aged 18–75 years from four European countries. Results The frequency of chronic unpleasant symptoms was estimated regardless of the severity: tingling (20.7%), stinging (17.6%), cough (14.2%), pruritus (13.5%), burning (11.4%) and skin pain (10.7%). A significant decrease was observed with age. The presence of chronic cough was impressively associated with the presence of unpleasant skin sensations, with a specific highlight on pruritus [odds ratio (OR) = 8.20] and skin pain (OR = 6.18). After removing subjects who reported asthma and/or pruriginous skin diseases, the same trend was observed among people without asthma and/or pruriginous skin diseases. Conclusions This study shows that chronic cough, pruritus and other skin sensory disorders are very frequent, with a decrease with age, and were commonly associated together. These results were observed in the absence or presence of an allergic, atopic or immune context, suggesting that sensitisation to one symptom could favour sensitisation to others.

Keywords

• chronic cough
• itch
• skin pain