[The Mysterious Cough - a Case-Based Proposal of Differential Diagnosis].

The Mysterious Cough - a Case-Based Proposal of Differential Diagnosis Abstract. Cough is a frequent complaint in the general practice. Avoidance of overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis is essential. In case of acute cough or subacute (<8 week duration), red flags indicate the need for further evaluation, otherwise it is mostly self-limiting. In case of chronic cough (>8 week duration) and normal baseline examination and after cessation of smoking and medication with ACE-I, cough-variant asthma, gastro-esophageal reflux disease and upper airway cough syndrome are the main causes and should be assessed and empirically treated in a systematic manner.