Suggestions

Document Overview

Design and created by Guideline Central in participation with the American College of Chest Physicians.

Classification of Cough as a Symptom in Adults and Management Algorithms

American College of Chest Physicians

Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018

Page Last Updated: May 5, 2026

Grading Recommendations

Grade	Description
1	Recommendation: indicates confidence that the benefits of the intervention clearly outweigh harms.
2	Suggestion: indicates greater uncertainty: although the benefits of the statement are still viewed as outweighing the harms, balance of benefits and harms is more difficult to judge, or the benefits or the harms may be less clear. With a suggestion, patient values and preferences may be more variable, and this can influence the clinical decision that is ultimately made.
Grade	Strength of Evidence
A	High: high confidence that the evidence reflects the true effect. Further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect.
B	Moderate: moderate confidence that the evidence reflects the true effect. Further research may change our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate.
C	Low: low confidence that the evidence reflects the true effect. Further research is likely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate.

Document Title: Classification of Cough as a Symptom in Adults and Management Algorithms

Full Text Guideline: journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(17)32918-5/fulltext

Document Objectives: We performed systematic reviews using the population, intervention, comparison, outcome (PICO) format to answer the following key clinical question: Are the CHEST 2006 classifications of acute, subacute and chronic cough and associated management algorithms in adults that were based on durations of cough useful?

Diseases/Conditions (MeSH)

D003371 - Cough

D003933 - Diagnosis

D000465 - Algorithms

D003371 - Cough

D003933 - Diagnosis

D000465 - Algorithms