Parents with chronic cough face increased odds for offspring with cough

Key takeaways:

• Study findings indicate that chronic cough might be hereditary.
• Parent productive cough was not linked to offspring nonproductive cough.

The confounder-adjusted likelihood for nonproductive chronic cough in offspring was greater in parents with vs. without this type of cough, according to results published in ERJ Open Research.

Additionally, parents with vs. without productive chronic cough faced elevated odds for having an offspring with productive cough, according to researchers.

“For nonproductive cough, no apparent causative factor was identified,” Ӧssur Ingi Emilsson, docent in lung, allergy and sleep research at the department of medical sciences at Uppsala University, and colleagues wrote. “Conversely, productive cough seemed to be to a significant degree, driven by smoking.”

In the Respiratory Health In Northern Europe, Spain and Australia (RHINESSA) Generation study, Emilsson and colleagues analyzed 7,155 parents and 8,176 offspring aged 20 years or older to find out if chronic cough is hereditary after adjusting for several factors.

Both groups completed questionnaires at different time periods. The parents filled them out in 2000 and 2010, and the offspring filled them out between 2012 and 2019.

Researchers accounted for study center and family ID, as well as offspring factors (age, sex, BMI, smoking history, education level, current asthma, rhinitis, nocturnal gastroesophageal reflux) and parent factors (sex and smoking history) in a mixed-effects logistic regression model.

After dividing chronic cough into productive cough and nonproductive (dry) cough, 805 offspring had productive cough, and 560 offspring had nonproductive cough.

A greater proportion of offspring to parents with vs. without nonproductive cough reported this type of cough (11% vs. 7%). The likelihood for an offspring with this type of cough was higher among parents with vs. without nonproductive cough (adjusted OR = 1.59; 95% CI, 1.2-2.1).

Similar to the above finding, more offspring to parents with vs. without productive cough had this type of cough (14% vs. 11%). Researchers noted heightened odds for an offspring with this type of cough in parents with vs. without productive cough (aOR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.07-1.67).

Parent productive cough was not linked to offspring nonproductive cough, according to researchers. Further, parent nonproductive cough was not linked to offspring productive cough.

Researchers additionally noted that a higher proportion of offspring had chronic cough when their parents reported chronic cough on both or one of the questionnaires vs. on neither questionnaire (29% and 21% vs. 18%). Parents with chronic cough on both vs. none of the questionnaires faced elevated odds for an offspring with cough (aOR = 1.75; 95% CI, 1.35-2.26).

When divided by sex, mothers with vs. without nonproductive cough faced a significant increased likelihood for female offspring with this type of cough (aOR = 1.97; 95% CI, 1.27-3.06). Similarly, mothers with vs. without productive cough had a higher likelihood for female offspring with productive cough (aOR = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.14-1.64). Mothers with chronic cough on both vs. none of the questionnaires also had significantly higher odds for a female offspring with cough (aOR = 2.5; 95% CI, 1.55-4.05).

Researchers also found significant odds for female offspring with nonproductive cough in fathers with vs. without nonproductive cough (aOR = 1.76; 95% CI, 1.01-3.07) and for female offspring with chronic cough in fathers with chronic cough on both vs. none of the questionnaires (aOR = 2.01; 95% CI, 1.25-3.23).

No significant relationships were found between male offspring with chronic cough and mothers with chronic cough or between male offspring with chronic cough and fathers with chronic cough.

“For nonproductive cough, we did not identify any significant confounding factors, but for productive cough we found smoking in parent and offspring to be a potential driving factor,” Emilsson and colleagues wrote. “Further studies are needed to explore the reason for this heritability, including potential genetic variants.”

Reference:

• Chronic cough may be hereditary. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1055352. Published Aug. 22, 2024. Accessed Aug. 22, 2024.