CKS is no longer commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). NICE remains committed to providing a replacement service for CKS and is currently reviewing its options. In the meantime, although CKS content is now not being maintained, it still remains relevant and will continue to be made available. CKS content was generated under a programme of topic creation and update. To check if the topic you are viewing is current or out of date, please refer to the topic publication details by clicking on the 'How up-to-date is this topic?' link in the left hand menu on individual topic pages.
Hiccups - Management
Additional information
- Many causes of hiccups have been reported, including:
- Abdominal: gastric distension, gastric reflux, gastritis, small bowel obstruction, cholecystitis, subphrenic abscess.
- Head and neck: tumour, cyst, goitre, pharyngitis, irritation of tympanic membrane (e.g. by a foreign body).
- Thorax: tumours, pneumonia, pericarditis, myocardial infarction, aortic aneurysm.
- Central nervous system: trauma, infection (e.g. cerebral abscess, encephalitis), stroke, tumours, multiple sclerosis.
- Metabolic: uraemia, hypokalaemia, hypocalcaemia, hyperventilation, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, alcohol, Addison's disease.
- Surgical: anaesthesia, neck extension, post-operative (intra-abdominal, thoracotomy, craniotomy).
- Psychogenic: stress, excitement, reaction to bereavement (grief), anorexia nervosa, malingering.
- Drugs: corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, opioids, methyldopa.
[Lewis, 1985; Howard, 1992; Launois et al, 1993; Rousseau, 1995; Cymet, 2002; Smith and Busracamwongs, 2003]
© NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement