{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T05:56:51Z","timestamp":1780379811209,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,30]],"date-time":"2023-03-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1680134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Despite being a new entity, there is a large amount of information on the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the symptoms of the acute phase; however, there are still many unknowns about the clinical features and pathophysiology of post-COVID syndrome. Refractory chronic cough is one of the most prevalent symptoms and carries both a medical problem and a social stigma. Many recent studies have highlighted the role of SARS-CoV-2 neurotropism, but no studies have demonstrated vagus nerve neuropathy as a cause of persistent chronic cough or other COVID-19 long-term effects.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The main objective was to assess the involvement of the vagus nerve neuropathy as a cause of chronic cough and other post-COVID syndrome symptoms.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Material and methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This was a single-center observational study with prospective clinical data collected from 38 patients with chronic cough and post-COVID-19 syndrome. Clinical characteristics and laryngeal electromyographic findings were analyzed.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Clinical data from 38 patients with chronic cough after 12 weeks of the acute phase of COVID-19 infection were analyzed. Of these patients, 81.6% suffered from other post-COVID conditions and, 73.6% reported fluctuating evolution of symptoms. Laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) of the thyroarytenoid (TA) muscles and cricothyroid (CT) muscles was pathological in 76.3% of the patients. Of the patients with abnormal LEMG, chronic denervation was the most frequent finding (82.8%), 10.3% presented acute denervation signs, and 6.9% presented myopathic pattern in LEMG.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec005\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>LEMG studies suggest the existence of postviral vagus nerve neuropathy after SARS-CoV-2 infection that could explain chronic cough in post-COVID syndrome.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0283758","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,30]],"date-time":"2023-03-30T17:47:58Z","timestamp":1680198478000},"page":"e0283758","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Chronic cough in post-COVID syndrome: Laryngeal electromyography findings in vagus nerve neuropathy"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9204-7732","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Patricia","family":"Garc\u00eda-Vicente","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Rodr\u00edguez-Valiente","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carmen","family":"G\u00f3rriz Gil","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Reyes","family":"M\u00e1rquez Altemir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francisco","family":"Mart\u00ednez-P\u00e9rez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1506-4587","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Luis Fernando","family":"L\u00f3pez-Pajaro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2747-2991","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jose Ram\u00f3n","family":"Garc\u00eda-Berrocal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0283758.ref001","article-title":"Clinical Medicine COVID-19: Specific and Non-Specific Clinical Manifestations and Symptoms","author":"J Baj","year":"2020","journal-title":"The Current State of Knowledge"},{"issue":"10270","key":"pone.0283758.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"220","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)32656-8","article-title":"6-month consequences of COVID-19 in patients discharged from hospital: a cohort study","volume":"397","author":"C Huang","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Lancet"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0283758.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"533","DOI":"10.1016\/S2213-2600(21)00125-9","article-title":"Confronting COVID-19-associated cough and the post-COVID syndrome: role of viral neurotropism, neuroinflammation, and neuroimmune responses","volume":"9","author":"WJ Song","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Lancet Respiratory Medicine"},{"key":"pone.0283758.ref004","unstructured":"National Institute for Health and Care Excellence: Clinical Guidelines. 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