Cough Due to Tuberculosis and Other Chronic Infections: CHEST Guideline and Expert Panel Report (original) (raw)

Cough is common in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and other chronic respiratory infections. Identifying features that predict whether pulmonary TB is the cause would help target appropriate individuals for rapid and cost-effective screening, potentially limiting disease progression, and preventing transmission to others. A systematic literature search for individual studies to answer 8 Key questions (KQ) was conducted according to established Chest Organization methods using the following databases: MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from 1/1/1984 to April 2014. Searches for KQ1 and KQ3 were updated in February 2016. An updated KQ 2 search was undertaken in March 2017. Even where TB prevalence is greatest, most individuals with cough do not have pulmonary TB. There was no evidence that one, 3 or 4 weeks' duration were better predictors than cough lasting ≥2 weeks to screen for pulmonary TB. In people living with HIV infection (PLWHIV)...