Ten-year trend in the prevalence of chronic cough and phlegm among young adults in Italy

The presence of chronic cough and phlegm (on most days for a minimum of 3 months a year and for at least 2 successive years) identifies a subgroup of subjects with a high risk of developing COPD, independently of smoking habits. We sought to evaluate the ten-year trend in the prevalence of these symptoms among young adults in Italy. In 1998/2000, a screening questionnaire was mailed up to 3 times to general population samples of 20-44 year-old subjects, and eventually given over the phone to the remaining non-responders, in the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults (ISAYA) (9 centres; response rate = 72.7%). The same procedure was repeated in the Gene Environment Interactions in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study in 2007/2010 (7 centres; response rate = 57.2%). In the 4 centres (Pavia, Sassari, Turin, Verona) involved in both the studies, the adjusted percentage* of current smokers has decreased (from 34.3 to 27.4%; p The overall prevalence of chronic cough and phlegm has not changed during the past decade among young adults in Italy, but a decrease is expected due to the observed reduction in the percentage of current smokers. The increase in the prevalence among non-smokers deserves further investigation.