RSV and Heart Health
Could Persistent Cough Signal A Heart Problem? A Cardiologist Answers
Coughing is usually a natural reflex in the body that helps keep the airways clear. It is mostly harmless and caused by benign conditions. However, in certain cases, when a cough is persistent or chronic, it can signal a serious underlying condition like heart disease. But how do we know if a cough is linked to a cardiac problem or if it is a lung condition? To answer this question, the OnlyMyHealth team spoke to Dr Basavaraj Utagi, Senior Consultant Cardiologist, Fortis Hospital, Cunningham Road, who not only shared warning symptoms but also tests that can confirm the root of the problem.
Also Read: Could Your Cold-Like Symptoms Be Whooping Cough? How To Identify The Latter
How Is Chronic Cough Linked To Heart Problems?
Chronic cough is when your cough lasts for eight weeks or longer. It often signals an underlying condition and can impact daily life and activities.
When it comes to chronic cough associated with heart problems, or a cardiac cough, it's caused by pulmonary congestion or oedema resulting from heart failure, said Dr Utagi. He explained that fluid builds up in the lungs, irritating the airways and triggering a cough. "This type of cough is often worse when lying down and may produce pink, frothy sputum."
When the heart becomes weak and is unable to pump blood effectively, it can lead to a backup of blood and fluid in the lungs, causing congestion. This congestion irritates the airways and triggers a cough as the body attempts to clear the excess fluid.
How To Identify A Cardiac Cough
The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests that persistent, or chronic, cough is a common symptom of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). It is characterised by white or pink, blood-tinged mucus.
According to Dr Utagi, a cardiac cough is typically accompanied by other heart failure symptoms, such as swelling, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
"The cough may be worse at night or when lying down," he said, adding that respiratory coughs, on the other hand, are often accompanied by symptoms like wheezing, chest tightness, and coughing up yellow or green mucus.
Who Is At Risk?People with pre-existing heart conditions, diabetes, high blood pressure, or Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) are most at risk of cardiac-related cough.
Older adults, obese individuals, and those with a history of heart failure or myocardial infarction are also more susceptible.
Lifestyle factors like smoking, physical inactivity, and a poor diet can further increase the risk.
Also Read: Can A Chronic Cough Be A Sign Of Congestive Heart Failure?
Tests To Confirm Heart Health
Dr Utagi listed a few tests that can help determine if a cough is related to the heart. These include:
"An echocardiogram assesses heart function, while a chest X-ray evaluates lung congestion. Elevated BNP levels can indicate heart failure. Other tests, such as electrocardiograms and cardiac stress tests, may also be used to diagnose underlying heart conditions," Dr Utagi explained in detail.
ConclusionA cough that doesn't go away might seem like a minor problem, but in some cases, it could be your heart trying to tell you something. What we often ignore as a harmless cough could actually be linked to heart trouble, especially if it comes with breathlessness, fatigue, or swelling. For people with existing conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, or a history of heart issues, paying attention to such signs becomes even more important. However, with the right tests and timely treatment, it's possible to get to the root of the problem and manage it effectively.
Why A Cough Could Be A Warning Sign Of Heart Failure
When most people think of heart problems, symptoms like chest pain or shortness of breath usually come to mind. But for many individuals living with congestive heart failure (CHF), a persistent cough can be one of the first signs that something is wrong. Understanding how this happens can help people recognize the early warnings and seek help sooner.
Congestive heart failure is a condition in which the heart becomes weaker and can't pump blood as well as it should. This slowdown causes blood to back up in the veins and leads to fluid building up in different parts of the body—including the lungs.
This is why some people with CHF develop a nagging cough. It's not caused by a cold or allergies, but by fluid in the lungs, making breathing harder and triggering the need to cough.
The heart and lungs are closely connected. The heart sends oxygen-rich blood to the body, and the lungs are where that oxygen gets picked up. When the heart is not working properly, the lungs can become flooded with fluid. This is what "congestive" means in congestive heart failure—fluid congestion in tissues and organs.
A cough caused by CHF often becomes worse when lying down or sleeping. This happens because when you're standing or sitting, gravity helps pull fluid down to your legs and lower body.
But when you lie down, the fluid can move back up toward your lungs, making it harder to breathe and more likely that you'll start coughing. Many people notice they wake up at night coughing or feeling short of breath.
The cough might be dry, or it might bring up mucus that's white or even pink-tinged. That pink color can be a sign that there's fluid leaking into the lungs, a condition called pulmonary edema. This isn't just uncomfortable—it can be dangerous and should be taken seriously.
Doctors and researchers say it's important to pay attention to a new or worsening cough, especially in people who have heart disease or are at risk for it. Recognizing this early symptom can help doctors start treatment sooner, which may improve how a person feels and reduce the risk of complications.
Treatment for CHF includes medicines that help the heart work better and remove extra fluid from the body. These may include diuretics—also known as water pills—that help the kidneys flush out the extra fluid. This can relieve the pressure in the lungs and reduce coughing.
Alongside medication, making changes to daily habits can make a big difference. Eating less salt, managing stress, keeping a healthy weight, and getting regular medical check-ups are all important in keeping CHF under control.
While a cough might seem like a small problem, in the case of heart failure, it can be a sign that your body is struggling to cope. If it happens along with other symptoms like feeling tired, short of breath, or noticing swelling in your legs or stomach, it's time to talk to a doctor.
This connection between coughing and heart failure is a reminder of how closely linked the body's systems are. When one part of the body isn't working well, it can cause trouble in unexpected places. Knowing the signs and acting early can help people with CHF live longer, healthier lives.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that vitamin K helps cut heart disease risk by a third, and a year of exercise reversed worrisome heart failure.
For more health information, please see recent studies about supplements that could help prevent heart disease, stroke, and results showing this food ingredient may strongly increase heart disease death risk.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
Does Coughing Work Against A Heart Attack? It Might — But You Should Call For Help FirstSnopes.com
Why is there not a rating on this post? There's not enough verified evidence for us to definitively confirm or debunk this rumor. Contact us if you have credible information to share. We'll update this post as necessary.
What's the best way to survive a heart attack if you're alone when it strikes? One persistent rumor claims you can increase your chances of survival by coughing "repeatedly and very vigorously" in a practice researchers call "cough CPR".
The text in the post (archived) reads:
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE? This comes from Dr. Patrick Teefy, Cardiology Head at the Nuclear Medicine Institute University Hospital, London Ont.
1. Let's say it's 7:25 pm and you're going home (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job.
2. You're really tired, upset and frustrated.
3. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to drag out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five km from the hospital nearest your home.
4. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far.
5. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.
6. Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.
7. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
8. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it to regain a normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get help or to a hospital
The doctor mentioned in the above example of the claim has since said online he does not endorse the practice of cough CPR.
Though early research on cough CPR found it could be helpful to some patients in some settings, more recent reviews of the technique found that while it could work, it should not be an alternative to traditional CPR. Some respected bodies on cardiac health like the British Heart Foundation and American Heart Association dismiss cough CPR entirely.
Variations of the claim that coughing during a heart attack can increase survival chances likely go back to a message circulating in June 1999 (seen in Snopes' prior reporting) and attributed to Rochester General Hospital and the Mended Hearts charity that supports heart patients and their family:
This one is serious … Let's say it's 4:17 p.M. And you're driving home, (alone of course) after an unusually hard day on the job. Not only was the work load extraordinarily heavy, you also had a disagreement with your boss, and no matter how hard you tried he just wouldn't see your side of the situation. You're really upset and the more you think about it the more up tight you become. All of a sudden you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home, unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to perform it on yourself.
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article seemed in order. Without help the person whose heart stops beating properly and who begins to feel Faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating.
The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a phone and, between breaths, call for help.
Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!
From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240's newsletter. AND THE BEAT GOES ON… (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. Publication, Heart Response)
Part of this text was also reproduced in the Jun. 22, 1999, edition of the Crowley Post-Signal, a newspaper in Louisiana, also attributed to Rochester General Hospital. The hospital and Mended Hearts have both denied that they wrote or endorsed this claim.
While the claim about cough CPR goes back decades, newer research generally showed that if cough CPR works, it works in a limited number of cases for a limited number of people.
An early study on cough CPR from 1976 found that:
Cough-CPR, accomplished by abrupt, forceful coughing maintains consciousness by rhythmic compression of the heart, has several advantages over external CPR in the catheterization laboratory, and may be applicable to other situations where serious rhythm disturbances are recognized before unconsciousness occurs.
While this initial study included only a sample size of eight people, the lead author continued to publish favorably on the topic until 2006.
Another oft-cited study on cough CPR was carried out by Polish researchers in 1998. This study saw people with Stokes-Adams Syndrome — a disorder that causes fainting due to abnormal heart rhythm — learn to predict the onset of a fainting spell and use rhythmic coughing to stay conscious. The study concluded that: "evoked coughing can effectively prevent fainting and maintaining consciousness until conventional CPR help becomes available."
Critics of these studies say that the results have been achieved in hospital settings with supervised patients. The Resuscitation Council UK, a health care charity focused on resuscitation education, issued a statement on the claim in 2018, since reviewed in 2021, saying:
The incorrect "advice" has probably been based (very loosely) on a few published case reports of people with sudden cardiac arrest being able to maintain a heartbeat, and therefore a circulation, by repeated vigorous coughing - so-called "cough CPR". However, this has been achieved in hospitals, during tests or treatment on the heart in which the person was being monitored closely and supervised by doctors throughout.
Cardiac arrest usually causes loss of consciousness within a matter of seconds, giving a person no warning. Even if a person suspected that they were having a cardiac arrest, it is highly unlikely that coughing could maintain enough circulation to do anything else, let alone drive safely.
A British study from 2021 reviewed several resuscitation methods, including cough CPR, and found that "Cough CPR, percussion pacing and precordial thump should not be routinely used in established cardiac arrest." Percussion pacing and precordial thump are alternative CPR methods that consist of striking the chest with a closed fist or delivering a single sharp blow to the patient's chest, respectively.
The study further found that these alternative methods "must not delay standard CPR efforts in those who lose cardiac output."
This is echoed in advice from the British Heart Foundation, American Heart Association and respected medical institutions like the Cleveland Clinic. The most important thing, these groups say, is to call emergency services (911 in the U.S.) if you suspect you or someone else is having a heart attack.
Snopes' archives contributed to this report
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Mikkelson, Barbara. "How to Survive a Heart Attack When Alone." Snopes, 2 Sept. 2003, https://www.Snopes.Com//fact-check/cough-cpr/.
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Resuscitation Council UK's Statement on Cough CPRResuscitation Council UK. 2 Jan. 2019, https://www.Resus.Org.Uk/about-us/news-and-events/resuscitation-council-uks-statement-cough-cpr.
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