A pediatrician affiliated with the Busoga Health Forum has voiced apprehension regarding the inadequate understanding of various cough types in children and their corresponding treatments.
During a webinar that focused on managing childhood cough held on Friday, Dr. Rebecca Nantanda, a Pediatrician and Research Scientist at Makerere University Lung Institute, underscored the prevalent ambiguity surrounding the efficacy of numerous over-the-counter medications available in hospitals and clinics. She emphasized the necessity for a more streamlined approach to discerning the effectiveness of these medications for different types of cough.
“Despite the abundance of cough guidelines, there remains a lack of consensus regarding the classification of acute versus chronic cough. It is imperative that we strive for global unity in our understanding, as it significantly impacts the assessment, investigation, and treatment protocols,” Dr. Nantanda remarked.
Highlighting the financial implications associated with cough-related healthcare costs, Dr. Nantanda advocated for a thorough quantification of the economic burden on individuals, families, and healthcare systems. Such data, she believes, will be instrumental in advocating for enhanced guidelines and medications.
Furthermore, Dr. Nantanda urged healthcare practitioners to meticulously document cough patterns and associated factors, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive evaluation to advance the management of childhood cough.
Cough, defined as a physiological response to airway irritation, primarily serves to prevent the entry of food and fluids into the lower airways and facilitate the removal of excess material beyond the mucociliary system’s transport capacity.
While infections predominantly cause cough in children, it can also stem from various other factors including foreign bodies, bronchiectasis, inflammatory diseases, pulmonary hypertension, and genetic conditions.
The impact of cough on a child’s quality of life cannot be understated, affecting aspects such as play, social interactions, sleep, school performance, and feeding, while also inducing anxiety and stress among caregivers and teachers.
Categorically, cough types in children are delineated based on duration, with acute cough lasting less than three weeks, sub-acute cough persisting from three to eight weeks, and chronic cough persisting for eight weeks or longer.
Dr. Nantanda further elaborated on cough patterns, distinguishing between recurrent cough, characterized by repetitive acute episodes with brief periods of relief, and persistent cough, a form of chronic cough marked by progressive exacerbation.
A recent survey conducted in urban areas of Uganda revealed that cough ranks as the leading cause of irrational antibiotic use in children, with a notably high prevalence of persistent cough (20-90%) observed in households utilizing biomass as cooking fuel.
Emphasizing the ineffectiveness of antibiotics in treating viral coughs common in young children, Dr. Nantanda stressed the importance of counseling parents accordingly.