Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22074326›Full record

ArticleCough (London, England)2011

Perspective on the human cough reflex.

Stuart M Brooks

Open access · hybridAbstract readEditorial
In one paragraph

Article in Cough (London, England), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
4.5field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 65 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Sweet taste and menthol increase cough reflex thresholds.Pulmonary pharmacology & therapeutics · 2012
    Trial
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Sulfolipid-1 fromJournal of neurophysiology · 2026
    Article
  6. bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. How does homeostasis happen? Integrative physiological, systems biological, and evolutionary perspectives.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2019
    Review
  11. Coughing in Small Animal Patients.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2019
    Review
  12. Analysis of the Literature on Chronic Cough in Children.The open respiratory medicine journal · 2017
    Review
  13. Review
  14. Evolution of lung breathing from a lungless primitive vertebrate.Respiratory physiology & neurobiology · 2016
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Cough hypersensitivity as a neuro-immune interaction.Clinical and translational allergy · 2015
    Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Stuart M BrooksColleges of Public Health and Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. sbrooks@health.usf.edu.
University of South Florida · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This review dissects the complex human cough reflex and suggests hypotheses about the evolutionary basis for the reflex. A mechanosensory-induced cough reflex conveys through branches of myelinated Aδ nerve fibers is not chemically reactive (i.e., capsaicin, bradykinin); possibly, its evolution is to prevent the harmful effects of aspiration of gastric or particulate contents into the lungs. This became necessary as the larynx moves closer to the opening of the esophagus as human ancestors adapt phonation over olfaction beginning less than 10 million years ago. The second type of cough reflex, a chemosensory type, is carried by unmyelinated C fibers. Supposedly, its origin dates back when prehistoric humans began living in close proximity to each other and were at risk for infectious respiratory diseases or irritant-induced lung injury. The mechanism for the latter type of cough is analogous to induced pain after tissue injury; and, it is controlled by the identical transient receptor potential vanilloid cation channel (TRPV1). The airways do not normally manifest nociceptive pain from a stimulus but the only consistent response that capsaicin and lung inflammation provoke in healthy human airways is cough. TRPA1, another excitatory ion channel, has been referred to as the "irritant receptor" and its activation also induces cough. For both types of cough, the motor responses are identical and via coordinated, precisely-timed and sequential respiratory events orchestrated by complex neuromuscular networking of the diaphragm, chest and abdominal respiratory muscles, the glottis and parts of the brain.

Identifiers

PMID22074326
PMCPMC3234184
OpenAlexW2125593219

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.