A team at the University of Leicester, working with researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Queen Mary University of London, has conducted the first study of its kind to investigate the genetics of chronic cough. Their findings were published in the European Respiratory Journal.

The study included almost 30,000 individuals experiencing chronic cough from multiple population health resources including the UK Biobank, EXCEED Study, the Copenhagen Hospital Biobank, Genes & Health and the eMERGE Network.

As the largest and most diverse genetic study of chronic cough to date, researchers uncovered genes involved in neuronal signalling and sensory pathways, revealing a neurological basis for the condition.