Findings	Suggested causes
Cough	Allergy, GERD, inhaled irritants, LPR, tobacco, URI
Dysphagia	Carcinoma, GERD, inflammatory arthritis, LPR
Heartburn	Carcinoma, GERD, LPR
Hemoptysis	Carcinoma
History of heavy alcohol use	Carcinoma, GERD, LPR
History of smoking or tobacco use	Carcinoma, chronic laryngitis, leukoplakia, Reinke edema
Odynophagia	Carcinoma, inflammatory arthritis, URI
Palpable lymph nodes	Carcinoma, URI
Professional vocalist or untrained singer	Vocal abuse
Recent head, neck, or chest surgery	Vagus or recurrent laryngeal nerve injury
Recent intubation or laryngeal procedure	Direct trauma with vocal fold paralysis
Rhinorrhea, sneezing, watery eyes	Allergy, URI
Sensitivity to heat, spicy foods, other irritants	Leukoplakia
Stridor, symptoms of airway obstruction	Carcinoma, laryngeal papillomatosis
Throat clearing	Allergy, GERD, inhaled corticosteroids, LPR
Weight loss	Carcinoma
Wheezing, other signs of asthma	Allergy, inhaled corticosteroids