Chronic cough is associated with an increased risk of hypertension

Introduction: Anecdotally, patients with chronic cough have a higher prevalence of hypertension than expected despite not conforming to the usual risk factors. We aimed to quantify the prevalence of hypertension in this population.

Methods: 68 patients were recruited from the chronic cough clinic at MFT Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, UK. Gender and age matched (+/- 5 years) control subjects were recruited from hospital staff, individuals accompanying patients at clinic visits and from local social groups. Smokers, those with cardiovascular conditions except for hypertension, and those with respiratory disease, other than cough in the patient group, were excluded. Hypertensive subjects had taken their antihypertensive medication prior to testing. Demographics, hypertensive status, and seated blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were recorded. T-tests were used to compare age, BP and HR between the groups, and Chi squared tests to compare gender split and hypertensive status.

Results: There were no significant differences in age, gender split, BP or HR between the groups. 17 (25%) of the chronic cough subjects were hypertensive, compared to only 3 (4.4%) of the control subjects. The lower than expected prevalence of hypertension in the control group is due to the eligibility criteria of the study.

Conclusions: Chronic cough is potentially associated with an increased risk of hypertension. This may be a result of the cardiovascular consequences of repeated bouts of coughing, or possibly autonomic dysfunction in this group. This novel finding has implications for the cardiovascular health of this patient group.