The aim of study was to correlate the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell subpopulations in light microscopy and clinical-functional parameters in 20 children with chronic nonproductive cough (potentially evolving to asthma) in comparison with 20 children with mild and moderate stable asthma. The results revealed a different BAL cell profile of chronic coughing children, characterized by a lower percent of total cells (0.279 +/- 0.055 x 10(6)/ml), eosinophils (0.97 +/- 0.80%), lymphocytes (6.02 +/- 0.85%) and epithelial cells (28.52 +/- 5.15%) and higher percent of macrophages (46.05 +/- 7.94%) and neutrophils (18.27 +/- 4.93%). Eosinophilic inflammation in BAL and bronchial hyper-responsiveness (PC20 methacholine = 1.73 +/- 0.15 mg/ml) were revealed in three cases with chronic cough. Based on these reasons, they were included in "cough variant asthma". In conclusion, children with nonproductive chronic cough represent a heterogenous group, with different underlying causes. Only a minority of these patients has "cough variant asthma", with a favorable response to inhaled corticotherapy.