A child with a cough at a pediatrician's appointment

The article is devoted to the problem of cough in childhood. Cough in children is one of the most common reasons for visiting a doctor. There are physiological and pathological cough. With pathological cough in children, it significantly worsens the quality of life. Given the wide variety of causes of cough, finding a doctor can be difficult to diagnose. Dangerous signals/«red flags» accompanying a cough are given, which parents should pay attention to in order to seek medical advice in a timely manner. The modern capabilities of a pediatrician to identify the causes of cough are considered, including the need to conduct a thorough analysis of medical history, especially in chronic cough, the importance of assessing various characteristics of cough (frequency, timbre, rhythm, intensity, time of occurrence, duration, productivity, in the presence of the nature of sputum, etc.) to narrow the diagnostic search, depending on the nature of the cough, differentially prescribe laboratory and instrumental research methods. The article presents the most common causes of cough in children, describes the features of cough in various nosological forms of acute respiratory infections, including current variants of SARS-CoV-2. Diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in pediatric practice are considered. One of the promising areas of cough therapy in acute respiratory infections is the use of innovative complex agents that combine plant components and vitamins that can affect various pathogenetic mechanisms of inflammation and cough. Syrup with althaea and plantain improving dry and productive cough as well coughing at night is recommended. vitamin C, althaea, plantain, chamomile, and thyme provide analgesic, anti-inflammatory, sedative, and mild immunomodulatory effects.

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