Preface

Cough is one of the most common complaints in clinical practice. In particular, chronic cough accounts for at one third of visits in specialist clinics, and severely affects patient’s quality of life. In the 1980s, Dr. Richard Irwin established the anatomybased diagnostic algorithm of chronic cough; since then, etiological diagnosis, treatment and mechanism of chronic cough have been studied in Europe, Japan, China, and many other parts of the world, resulting in development of cough guidelines in these countries and regions.