The Effect of Orally Administered Gelatin on Symptom Resolution in Chronic Persistent Cough: A Randomized Clinical Trial Study

Background: The term chronic cough signifies the cough lasting for more than three weeks and is associated with different morbidities. Despite its importance, the management is often unsatisfactory. Gelatin is widely used in Iranian traditional medicine for chronic cough. This study aims to test gelatin as a possible therapy for chronic cough. Methods: One hundred patients with chronic cough without any other co-morbidities were randomly divided into two groups. The first group continued their previous antitussive medication and the second group received gelatin for 3-5 days. Results: In first group, 52% were female and 48% male (42.9±12.8 years) while these figures for the 2nd group, were 46% and 54% (41.4±14.7). Cough duration in the first group was 6.4 weeks and 6.4 weeks in the second group. In the first group, 16% reported no response to the therapy, 30% poor response, 28% fair response, 18% good response, and 8% excellent response respectively. In the second group, the figures were 4%, 20%, 32%, 38% and 6% respectively. Conclusion: Although the number of participants was not large enough to determine a statistical significance, it seems that gelatin had relieved the patients of their cough more than common antitussive medications. This study can provide the ground for further studies, especially clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of gelatin for the treatment of chronic persistent cough.