SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2002
The natural history of acute cough in children aged 0 to 4 years in primary care: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- Coughing children in family practice and primary care: a systematic review of prevalence, aetiology and prognosis.BMC pediatrics · 2021Pooled it
- Modeling Healthcare Costs Attributable to Secondhand Smoke Exposure at Home among South Korean Children.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Antibiotics for prolonged wet cough in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Antibiotics for preventing suppurative complications from undifferentiated acute respiratory infections in children under five years of age.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Inhaled corticosteroids for subacute cough in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013Pooled it
- Clinical symptoms and signs for the diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in children and adolescents with community-acquired pneumonia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- How long does a cough last? Comparing patients' expectations with data from a systematic review of the literature.Annals of family medicinePooled it
- Effect of Jiuwei Zhuhuang Powder on Cough Resolution in Children with Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2022Trial
- Antibiotics for lower respiratory tract infection in children presenting in primary care in England (ARTIC PC): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.Lancet (London, England) · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Cough during infancy and subsequent childhood asthma.Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2015Trial
- Efficacy of Grintuss® pediatric syrup in treating cough in children: a randomized, multicenter, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2014Trial
- Predicting the duration of symptoms in lower respiratory tract infection.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2008Trial
- Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of Acute Cough in Indian Pediatric Population: Insights from Real-World Study.Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences · 2025Article
- N-acetylcysteine in paediatrics: a review of efficacy, safety and dosing strategies in respiratory care.Drugs in context · 2025Review
- Mapping the evidence about the natural history of acute infections commonly seen in primary care and managed with antibiotics: a scoping review.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- SAFETY NETTING CONCEPT IN PRIMARY CARE CONSULTATION.Annals of Ibadan postgraduate medicine · 2023Article
- Antibiotics for lower respiratory tract infection in children presenting in primary care: ARTIC-PC RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2023Article
- Upper Respiratory Tract Infection-Associated Acute Cough and the Urge to Cough: New Insights for Clinical Practice.Pediatric allergy, immunology, and pulmonology · 2020Review
- Burden of disease in children with respiratory tract infections in primary care: diary-based cohort study.Family practice · 2019Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Professional and parental uncertainty regarding the natural history of cough and respiratory tract infection (R77) in pre-school children may in part be responsible for the high consultation, reconsultation, and antibiotic prescribing rates in this age group. The aim of the study was to review the evidence about the natural history of acute cough in children aged between 0 and 4 years presenting to primary care in terms of illness duration and complications. The study was a systematic review, with qualitative and quantitative data synthesis, of control and placebo arms of systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials (RCTs), and cohort studies set in primary care. Searches were done of MEDLINE (between 1966 and June 1998), EMBASE (between 1988 and September 1998), and the Cochrane Library databases, using the MeSH terms 'respiratory tract infection, 'cough, and 'bronchitis, and the textwords 'cough' 'bronchitis, and 'chest infection, limited to children aged between 0 and 4years, and English language articles. Eight RCTs and two cohort studies met the review criteria. At one week, 75% of children may have improved but 50% may be still coughing and/or have a nasal discharge. At two weeks up to 24% of children may be no better. Within two weeks of presentation, 12% of children may experience one or more complication, such as rash, painful ears, diarrhoea, vomiting, or progression to bronchitis/pneumonia. This review offers parents and clinicians more prognostic information about acute cough in pre-school children. Illness duration may be longer and complications higher than many parents and clinicians expect. This may help to set more realistic expectations of the illness and help parents to decide when and if to reconsult. This information may be useful to those designing patient information and self-help resources.
Indexed as
Identifiers
12014540PMC1314298W1954740374What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.