Safe and effective antitussive therapy remains a significant area of unmet need for cough management. Antitussive drugs are commonly used cough suppressants and include centrally acting (opioids and non-opioids) cough suppressants and peripherally acting antitussives. Authors searched PubMed, Google Scholar and additional studies from reference lists via cross-referencing to identify studies assessing levodropropizine for the treatment of cough. Of the 748 studies identified, 13 were included. Recent clinical evidence, guideline recommendations and findings from this review suggest that levodropropizine is a peripheral antitussive which reduces cough intensity, frequency, and nocturnal awakenings in children and adults and provides better efficacy outcomes with a more favourable risk/benefit ratio compared to centrally acting antitussive agents which pose greater safety concerns and present an unacceptable risk–benefit profile. This review is aimed at Indian primary care physicians for making effective cough management decisions where the clinical evidence needs to be translated to clinical practice. Key Messages The usage of currently available centrally acting antitussive agent is greatly limited by their central depressing action and frequent side effect. The findings of this review indicate that levodropropizine is an effective antitussive agent and well tolerated in the management of cough in patients of all ages. Show less

Introduction People living with HIV (PLHIV) are susceptible to developing non- communicable chronic respiratory diseases. Our objective was to study the spirometric profile of this population. Material and methods This was a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional retro-prospective study conducted from March 15 to June 15, 2022 and relating to the analysis of the medical files of asymptomatic and eligible for spirometry PLHIV, aged 18 years and above. They were received in the voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) centres of one of the two pulmonology departments in Abidjan. Results The study involved 54 subjects including 22 men (40.7%) and 32 women (59.3%) with an average age of 48.9 years. The majority of patients were non-smokers (81.4%) and the main history was pulmonary tuberculosis (35.2%). Only 29.6% had chronic respiratory symptoms and 42.6% had a normal BMI. The frequency of spirometric abnormalities was 57.4%. These spirometric abnormalities included 40.7% peripheral obstructive pattern; 9.3% restrictive pattern; 3.7% asthma and 3.7% COPD. A more than 10 years duration of HIV infection (p=0.001 OR= 0.2 (0.1 – 0.7)) and a duration of ART of at least 10 years (p=0.001 OR= 0, 2 (0.1 – 0.7)) were significantly associated with the existence of ventilatory abnormalities. Conclusion The high frequency of ventilatory anomalies in PLHIV independently of the existence of chronic respiratory signs leads us to propose spirometry in the follow-up assessment of PLHIV while paying particular attention to those on ARVs for more than 10 years. Show less