I'm fit and healthy but have had a cough for more than a year, what's causing it? DR MARTIN SCURR replies By Dr Martin Scurr Published: 13:51 BST, 3 June 2024 | Updated: 14:11 BST, 3 June 2024 e-mail 42 shares 91 View comments I’m a fit and healthy 72-year-old woman but have had a cough for over a year. It’s worse at night. Yet lung tests found nothing wrong.
What’s causing it? Jo Bruce, via email. Dr Martin Scurr replies: What a frustrating problem, no doubt affecting the quality of your sleep. A chronic cough — defined as one that lasts for more than eight weeks — is common in those over 60, particularly in women.
This might be because hormones such as oestrogen (still produced even after the menopause ) increase the sensitivity of cells in the airways. A chronic cough — defined as one that lasts for more than eight weeks — is common in those over 60, particularly in women There are a number of possibilities for what the underlying cause might be, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD (primarily caused by smoking) and upper airways cough syndrome (due to excess mucus from the nasal cavities causing irritation in the throat and upper airways). As your lung function tests were normal, it seems unlikely that asthma is the reason.
COPD is unlikely as you don’t smoke. Upper airways cough syndrome, meanwhile, is almost always due to an allergy, for example, to house dust. Mucus flows into the throat and you feel a constant need to .
