Prevalence, aetiologies and prognosis of the symptom cough in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cough is a relevant reason for encounter in primary care. For evidence-based decision making, general practitioners need setting-specific knowledge about prevalences, pre-test probabilities, and prognosis. Accordingly, we performed a systematic review of symptom-evaluating studies evaluating cough as reason for encounter in primary care.

Methods

We conducted a search in MEDLINE and EMBASE. Eligibility criteria and methodological quality were assessed independently by two reviewers. We extracted data on prevalence, aetiologies and prognosis, and estimated the variation across studies. If justifiable in terms of heterogeneity, we performed a meta-analysis.

Results

We identified 21 eligible studies on prevalence, 12 on aetiology, and four on prognosis. Prevale

SUBMITTER: Bergmann M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8274469 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature