Cough Frequency: What do we know?

What do we know about cough frequency?

We’ve coughed countless times throughout our lives, both involuntarily and voluntarily.

There are different types of cough, ranging from acute to chronic coughs. The severity of each cough can usually be mapped to a diagnosis and potential treatment. Though a doctor may ask his/her patient how often he/she coughs, there has been a lack of tools available to trend cough frequency and be able to monitor for any alarming changes, as well as literature to reference on what should be considered a deviant from the norm.

A quick Google search on coughing yields results that pertain to why we cough and how to treat the cough, as well as how long a cough should last. All this information is helpful as an immediate self-diagnosing tool. However, there are other questions a person may raise that can be connected to a more specific condition.

For example, if I’ve been coughing for only 5 minutes in total every morning, am I just clearing my sinuses or is this indicative of a more serious infection? Not only does the rate of occurrence matter, the time of day a cough happens should also be taken into account when measuring coughs.

Studies from the 90s

Turns out we don’t know a lot about cough frequency.

One study in 1996 conducted by Paul Munyard et al.did try to address these concerns by tracking the number of cough episodes per 24 hours in order to determine a “normal” coughing frequency. Within these episodes, the number of coughs per hour is also evaluated. This study used a device called “RBG-7” that connects to an individual and offers readings of ECG and EMG along with audio activities of the wearer. From the looks of it, it seems to be a bulky and intrusive piece of equipment that a person had to carry around.

A previous study in 1994 also examined similar potential usage of an ambulatory recorder that counted coughs and converted them to comprehensive readings of units called “forced expiratory volume.” Evidently, the literature currently available on how much we cough are from outdated studies with mechanisms that may not be applicable to present-day needs of the population.

Cough Frequency and modern Life

With respiratory conditions such as asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), it is important for people to keep track of not just how often they cough throughout the day, but the different severity of each cough and any other factors (i.e. exercise, environmental) that could have been a trigger. Additionally, it may also be helpful for patients on medications to be able to assess and track coughing metrics such as intensity and frequency prior to using an inhaler versus after.

From a public health perspective, this type of population health data overtime would enable further research on the efficacy of a certain medication and whether or not a treatment can help to prolong the period of time between each cough episode.

This is an area where extensive literature can help in providing scientific knowledge based on previous studies of coughing in respiratory diseases.

Cough Frequency in the Time of Corona

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to us many prejudices about coughing, some of which are untrue and can lead to different levels of scrutiny or even discrimination while in a public space.

For this reason, a technology that tracks coughs in individuals can provide a deeper understanding into what different frequencies of coughing can be indicative of. The research and development that goes into optimizing such technology will serve as a motivating factor for further, more current scientific studies on coughing variants and its implications. As a result, qualitative literature on the subject would be widely available as referencing tools for advanced development of tracking technology for any other disease symptoms.

Originally published at https://blog.hyfeapp.com on May 18, 2020.