Comparison of diagnostic evaluations for cough among initiators of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers

摘要

PurposeDifferential diagnostic evaluation associated with a drug may bias effect estimates due to an increased detection of preclinical outcomes. Persistent cough is a common side effect with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and we hypothesized that ACEI initiators would undergo more diagnostic evaluations, potentially leading to diagnosis of preclinical lung cancer. We compared the incidence of cough-related diagnostic evaluations and lung cancer among ACEI versus angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) initiators.