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To Cough or Not to Cough? Examining the Potential Utility of Cough Testing in the Clinical Evaluation of Swallowing

  • Swallowing Disorders (Ruth E. Martin, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The clinical swallowing evaluation (CSE) represents a critical component of a comprehensive assessment of deglutition. Although universally utilized across clinical settings, the CSE demonstrates limitations in its ability to accurately identify all individuals with dysphagia. There exists a need to improve assessment and screening techniques to improve health outcomes, treatment recommendations and ultimately mortality in individuals at risk for dysphagia. The following narrative review provides a summary of currently used validated CSE’s and examines the potential role of cough testing and screening in the CSE.

Recent findings

Recent evidence highlights a relationship between objective physiologic measurements of both voluntarily and reflexively induced cough and swallowing safety status across several patient populations. Although more research is needed across a wider range of patient populations to validate these findings; emerging data supports the consideration of inclusion of cough testing during the CSE as an index of airway defense mechanisms and capabilities in individuals at risk for aspiration.

Summary

The sensorimotor processes of cough and swallowing share common neuroanatomical and functional substrates. Inclusion of voluntarily or reflexively induced cough testing in the CSE may aide in the identification of dysphagia and reduced airway protection capabilities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joy McCann Culverhouse Center for Swallowing Disorders, University of South Florida, 13330 USF Laurel Drive MDC Box 72, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Stephanie A. Watts

  2. Neuromotor Speech and Swallowing Restoration Laboratory, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

    Stephanie A. Watts, Lauren Tabor & Emily K. Plowman

  3. Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Florida, PO Box 117420, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    Lauren Tabor & Emily K. Plowman

Authors
  1. Stephanie A. Watts
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  2. Lauren Tabor
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  3. Emily K. Plowman
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Correspondence to Emily K. Plowman.

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Conflict of Interest

Emily K. Plowman reports R21HD075327 from the National Institute of Child Health and Development. Stephanie A. Watts and Lauren Tabo declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical collection on Swallowing Disorders.

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Watts, S.A., Tabor, L. & Plowman, E.K. To Cough or Not to Cough? Examining the Potential Utility of Cough Testing in the Clinical Evaluation of Swallowing. Curr Phys Med Rehabil Rep 4, 262–276 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-016-0134-5

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