Patients with a chronic productive cough should undergo regular spirometry for early detection of COPD and asthma, regardless of smoking status or duration, Australian doctors report.

The University of Melbourne–led team, who identified six subclasses of cough, said those with chronic or intermittent productive cough had worse lifetime lung function trajectories than patients with minimal cough.

“Our findings indicate that productive cough should be managed proactively, including through routine measurement of lung function,” they wrote in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

Respiratory physician Professor Peter Wark, who was not involved in the study, said spirometry was underutilised for early chronic airway disease detection.