What is chronic cough? Chronic cough is usually referred to as unexplained chronic cough when the cough has been present for more than 8 weeks, with no obvious lesions on chest X-ray. The incidence of chronic cough has been increasing in children in recent years, and these children often go through a lot of prolonged use of antibiotics with poor results. So, what causes chronic cough? According to current research, several common causes of chronic cough include cough variant asthma, upper airway cough syndrome (also known as postnasal drip syndrome), allergic cough, eosinophilic bronchitis, and gastroesophageal reflux cough. In pediatric patients, the first 3 categories are most common. Cough-altering asthma is characterized by nocturnal cough, which mainly manifests as an irritating dry cough (mostly occurs at night or in the early morning), but without typical asthma symptoms such as wheezing and shortness of breath. Cold, cold air, dust, and fumes can trigger or aggravate coughing; postnasal drip syndrome is caused by nasal diseases that cause secretions to flow backwards to the postnasal and throat areas, thus leading to coughing. Patients have frequent throat clearing, throat itching discomfort or nasal itching, nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and even hoarseness. Common causes include common cold, rhinitis (especially allergic rhinitis), sinusitis, and nasal polyps; allergic cough refers to the involvement of allergic factors, effective treatment with antihistamines and glucocorticoids, but cannot be diagnosed as other diseases such as asthma, with paroxysmal irritating dry cough caused by throat itching as the main manifestation. It seems that most chronic coughs in children are not caused by infections, and long-term massive abuse of anti-infective drugs not only does not cure the disease, but also destroys the normal flora in the body and even causes opportunistic infections such as fungal infections. Treatment of chronic cough requires detailed history taking and physical examination (including ENT specialist examination), together with chest X-ray, sinus film, pulmonary function and other ancillary tests, to first clarify the diagnosis. In case of postnasal drip syndrome, local antihistamines should be used along with standardized antibiotics, and nasal inhalation glucocorticoids if necessary; cough variant asthma requires inhalation glucocorticoids and β2 agonists; allergic cough is treated with antihistamines and, if necessary, inhaled or oral glucocorticoids. Parents also need to be aware of chronic cough in children, which often takes a long time to treat and requires family therapy most of the time. Only by patiently cooperating with treatment and standardizing medication can chronic cough eventually be cured.