Clinical Profile of Patients Presenting with Persistent Hiccups: An Underrecognized Diagnostic Challenge
Keywords:
Persistent hiccups; Singultus; Gastrointestinal disorders; Neurology; Differential diagnosis; Clinical medicine; Retrospective study.Abstract
Persistent hiccups lasting longer than 48 hours are uncommon but may indicate underlying gastrointestinal, neurological, metabolic, or thoracic disorders. This retrospective clinical review examined patients presenting with persistent hiccups at a tertiary healthcare center. Demographic characteristics, associated symptoms, diagnostic investigations, underlying etiologies, and treatment outcomes were evaluated. Gastrointestinal disorders represented the most frequently identified causes, followed by metabolic disturbances and neurological conditions. Most patients responded favorably to treatment directed toward the underlying disorder combined with symptomatic therapy. Persistent hiccups should not be regarded as a trivial complaint, as careful evaluation may reveal clinically significant disease requiring prompt management.
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Copyright (c) 2019 Hiroshi Takeda, Farah Naz Siddiqui, Thanawat Charoenpong (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction, adaptation, and commercial use in any medium, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the source, a link to the license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
