The term cough variant cough is inaccurate; the exact name of the disease should be cough variant asthma. Cough variant asthma medications are usually categorized into control medications and relievers, both of which are available in a variety of medications, such as budesonide aerosol, salbutamol aerosol, and so on, and there is no so-called drug of choice.
Cough variant asthma belongs to atypical asthma, the treatment principle of cough variant asthma is the same as asthma, in which controlled drugs usually need to be maintained for a long period of time, mainly used for anti-inflammatory, so as to effectively control the symptoms of asthma, and the choice of drugs include inhaled glucocorticosteroids (e.g. budesonide aerosol), leukotriene modulators (e.g. montelukast tablets), long-acting β2 agonists (e.g. formoterol fumarate tablets) etc.
Reliever drugs are usually used as first aid to relieve bronchospasm when the patient has an acute attack, thus relieving asthma symptoms, mainly including rapid-acting inhaled and short-acting oral β2 agonists (e.g., salbutamol preparations), inhaled anticholinergic drugs (e.g., ipratropium bromide aerosol), and systemic hormones (e.g., methylprednisolone injection).
In clinical treatment, it is necessary to make a comprehensive assessment according to the stage of the patient’s disease, combined with the patient’s history of drug allergy, relevant contraindications, etc., in order to make an accurate choice of drugs, and must be under the guidance of the physician to use drugs safely.