INTRODUCTION: Coughing is responsible for the clearance of secretion and foreign bodies from the respiratory airway. The peak cough flow (PCF) is the maximum expiratory flow measured by a peak flow meter during a coughing maneuver. Coughing effectiveness is dependant on the peak flow's magnitude. Assisted insufflation technique and manually assisted coughing can increase ability to cough. PCF of 160L/min was reported by some authors as the minimum required to clear airway and mechanical ventilation weaning. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review was to research on the use of PCF to evaluate coughing strength in different clinical conditions. METHOD: The subject headings used was peak cough flow in a search from Medline, SciELO and LILACS databases. RESULTS: It was found a total of 36 papers and 31 bibliographic references in Portuguese, Spanish and English languages were selected. CONCLUSION: The PCF is more and more measured in neuromuscular disease valuation and in other clinic condition.
Cough; Peak expiratory flow rate; Forced expiratory flow rates
