It has been more than two months since Ms. Wang’s cough was triggered by a cold, and she has taken many antibiotics and cough suppressants, but still no improvement. Her cough is often triggered by exercise, cold air, and irritating smells every day, and it gets worse at night. Her cough had seriously affected her life and sleep. One day she came to the respiratory clinic, where the physician took a chest X-ray and performed a bronchial excitation test based on the characteristics of her cough. Based on her findings, she was diagnosed with cough variant asthma and given promethazine (an inhaled glucocorticosteroid) as inhalation treatment at 200 μg twice daily and compound methonamine (a compounded bronchodilator) as oral treatment, and after 2 weeks Ms. Wang’s cough improved significantly, and after 1 month the cough disappeared. Her physician advised her to stop using methocarbamol and continue inhalation treatment with pramipexole, and gradually reduce the dosage and stop the drug after 2 months. In the respiratory clinic, there are many patients with chronic coughs like Ms. Wang, who often suffer from coughs and seek multiple medical attention. Coughing is a common symptom of respiratory diseases and facilitates the removal of respiratory secretions and harmful factors, but frequent and intense coughing can have a serious impact on the patient’s work, life and social activities. There are many clinical causes of cough, but some patients are misdiagnosed as “bronchitis” or “bronchiectasis” for a long time, and the cough is not relieved even after extensive use of antibacterial drugs; some patients undergo various tests repeatedly due to unclear diagnosis, which not only increases the patient’s pain, but also increases the patient’s financial burden, This not only increases the patient’s pain, but also increases the patient’s economic burden. Clinically, a cough of more than 8 weeks with no obvious abnormalities on X-ray chest radiographs is called chronic cough. There are many causes of chronic cough, and different causes have different clinical features and corresponding treatments, so it is important to define the cause of cough. Common causes include: cough variant asthma, postnasal drip syndrome, eosinophilic bronchitis, gastro-oesophageal reflux cough, endobronchial tuberculosis and post-cold cough. Cough variant asthma accounts for a large proportion of chronic coughs. Cough variant asthma is a special type of asthma in which the patient has cough as the only symptom, manifesting as an irritating dry cough, especially at night. The cough is easily triggered or aggravated by colds, cold air, dust, fumes, etc. There are no obvious symptoms of asthma and no croup is heard in the lungs. These patients often have a combination of allergies such as allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis, and often have a family history of asthma. The pathogenesis is similar to typical asthma, mainly due to chronic inflammation of the airways and increased airway reactivity, so conventional anti-cold and anti-infection treatment is often ineffective in these patients, while anti-inflammatory treatment with bronchodilators and glucocorticoids can effectively relieve cough symptoms. At present, the diagnosis of cough variant asthma depends mainly on the patient’s cough characteristics, such as chronic irritant dry cough with nighttime exacerbation or cold, cold air, dust, fumes, etc., which can easily trigger or aggravate the cough, no abnormal findings on chest X-ray or CT, and of course, other causes of chronic cough should be excluded. For these patients, a bronchial excitation test or PEF diurnal variability test can be performed in hospitals that have the conditions. If the bronchial excitation test is positive or the PEF diurnal variability is >20%, the diagnosis of cough variant asthma can be made. If bronchial provocation testing is not available, diagnostic treatment with inhaled glucocorticosteroids plus inhaled or oral bronchodilators is also possible, and if the cough improves significantly, a clinical diagnosis of cough variant asthma can be made. Cough variant asthma is early asthma or atypical asthma. If treatment is not timely and appropriate, some patients can develop into typical asthma, so patients with clinical diagnosis or suspected cough variant asthma should be given timely anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic treatment. This is why the physician gave Ms. Wang inhaled glucocorticoids and an oral bronchodilator to treat her cough. The treatment of cough variant asthma, like typical asthma, also advocates local inhalation therapy with a combination of inhaled glucocorticoids plus inhaled bronchodilators, which is both anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic, and therefore can effectively relieve cough symptoms and reduce airway hyperresponsiveness. There are various preparations available for inhalation therapy, including quantitative aerosol and dry powder, which can be easily taken home for use, as well as ultrasonic nebulization and jet nebulization inhalation, which require special devices for use in the hospital. The main drugs used are inhaled glucocorticoids and bronchodilators in combination. Oral prednisone and aminophylline can also be used for a short period of time if inhalation therapy is not effective. Cough variant asthma, if treated with appropriate anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic therapy, is generally effective in relieving cough symptoms and preventing the development of typical asthma. If standard anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic therapy is not effective in controlling the cough, further investigations should be performed to exclude other causes of chronic cough.