What Are the Causes of Coughing at Night?

Many people experience nocturnal cough, but most of them do not pay much attention to it. In fact, nocturnal cough is often caused by respiratory diseases triggered by upper respiratory tract infections. When people suffer from tonsillitis, colds, or other diseases, the cough may become more severe. Some infectious diseases or parasitic diseases can also lead to clinical manifestations of nocturnal cough.

(1) Upper Respiratory Tract: Cold, adenoviral infection, nose, sinus, or tonsillitis, acute and chronic pharyngitis or laryngitis, acute epiglottitis, laryngeal tuberculosis, etc.

(2) Tracheal and Bronchial Diseases: Acute and chronic tracheobronchitis, bronchiolitis, endobronchial tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, etc.

(3) Lung and Pleural Diseases: Viral or bacterial pneumonia, Mycoplasma, Rickettsia, or Chlamydia pneumonia, pulmonary fungal disease, lung abscess, tuberculosis, lung cancer, pleurisy, etc.

(4) Infectious Diseases and Parasitic Diseases: Measles, pertussis, diphtheria, influenza, leptospirosis, epidemic hemorrhagic fever, lung fluke disease, lung cystic echinococcosis, Pneumocystis carinii disease, acute schistosomiasis, ascariasis, ancylostomiasis, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, etc.

Any lesion that can block, compress, or traction the respiratory tract, stimulating the wall or distorting and narrowing the lumen, can cause cough.

(1) Respiratory Tract Obstruction: Respiratory secretions, blood, vomit, or other foreign bodies inhaled into the respiratory tract, bronchial adenoma or cancer, bronchial stenosis (such as tuberculosis), atelectasis, pulmonary edema, emphysema, pulmonary hemorrhage, alveolar microlithiasis, idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis, alveolar proteinosis, mucous viscosity disease, etc.

(2) Compression of the Respiratory Tract: Mediastinal tumor or lymphadenectasis, retrosternal thyroid, esophageal cyst, diverticulum or cancer, hilar or bronchial lymph node tuberculosis, pulmonary cyst, pulmonary congestion or hematoma, pneumoconiosis, diffuse pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, sarcoidosis, Wegener's granulomatosis, radiation pneumonitis, lung cancer, heart enlargement, pericardial effusion, pleural effusion, pneumothorax, pleural tumor, etc.

(3) Inhalation of Aerosol Stimuli: High-temperature gas or cold air, smoking, inhalation of irritating industrial gases such as chlorine, ammonia, phosgene, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, or fumes emitted from sulfuric acid, nitric acid, formaldehyde, etc.

Allergic rhinitis, bronchial asthma, extrinsic allergic alveolitis, simple pulmonary eosinophilic infiltration, tropical eosinophilia, rheumatic pneumonia, angioneurotic edema, etc.