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Allergy and Chronic Throat Symptoms: a Primer For Clinicians
  • Nathan Quigley,
  • Sandeep Mistry,
  • Sarju Vasani
Nathan Quigley
The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Sandeep Mistry
Bradford Teaching Hospitals
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Sarju Vasani
The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine
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Abstract

Chronic throat symptoms such as cough, dysphonia, globus sensation, throat clearing and sensation of mucus in the throat are prevalent and bothersome symptoms, which are now understood to cause significant morbidity when untreated. A dilemma for clinicians is the frequent lack of organic or structural disease explanation for these non-specific symptoms, even with often multidisciplinary assessment. Whilst associations to reflux or functional syndromes are often implied, these diagnostic paradigms lack interdisciplinary consensus and rely on empirical practices in the absence of clear disease links. The role of respiratory allergy or respiratory allergy sensitisation in contributing to presentations involving unexplained chronic throat symptoms (UCTS) remains poorly defined, but is emerging as a potentially undervalued relationship. For the clinician, clinical considerations and potential therapeutic strategies for the patient with UCTS and respiratory allergy disease or sensitisation remain ambiguous concepts, devoid of consensus or guidelines. This scoping review addresses the intersection of respiratory allergy and chronic throat complaints, offering an up-to-date assessment of this potential relationship, postulated symptom mechanisms and evidence to guide therapeutic decisions.