Cough severity visual analog scale scores and quality of life in patients with refractory or unexplained chronic cough.

BACKGROUND

Refractory chronic cough (RCC) and unexplained chronic cough (UCC) adversely affect patients' quality of life (QoL). This multicenter, non-interventional study evaluates the relationship between cough severity and QoL and other patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in Spanish outpatients.

METHODS

RCC/UCC patients self-administered a printed survey comprising the cough-severity visual analog scale (VAS), adapted Cough Severity Diary (CSD), and Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ), plus purpose-designed items regarding the physical and everyday-life impact of cough. Patients were stratified into VAS score tertiles. The impact of cough on QoL and other PROs in each tertile, and relationships between LCQ scores and the tertiles, were assessed.

RESULTS

The VAS was completed by 189 patients, and VAS score tertiles were identified as 0-50, 60-70, and 80-100 mm. The only between-tertile difference in demographic or cough characteristics was cough duration. VAS score tertiles were linearly associated with mean LCQ domain and total scores, as well as the proportion of patients with the highest scores on all adapted CSD items, and almost all physical and everyday-life impact items. In multiple linear-regression models, an increase of one tertile in the VAS score was associated with a decrease of 2.23 points in the LCQ total score, indicating poorer cough-related QoL.

CONCLUSION

As self-assessed in patients with RCC/UCC, cough-severity VAS scores were strongly associated with the impact of cough on QoL and everyday life. Patients with VAS scores of 60-100 mm reported the greatest impact and thus may benefit the most from targeted cough therapies.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2024 [The Author]. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of competing interest Christian Domingo has received consultant and speaker's honoraria from MSD, Novartis, Boehringer, Sanofi, TEVA, AstraZeneca, ALK, Allergy Therapeutics. Santiago Quirce has received speaking, lecture and consulting fees from Allergy Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, GSK, Mundipharma, Novartis, Sanofi, and Teva. Ignacio Dávila has received consulting fees from Allergy Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, GSK, MSD, Novartis, and Sanofi. Lectures for Allergy Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Diater, GSK, LETI, Novartis, and Sanofi. Grants to his institution from ISCIII (public entity), Junta de Castilla de León (public entity), and ThermoFisher. Astrid Crespo-Lessman has received consultant's honoraria from AstraZeneca, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, and her institution has received grants from AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline. Luis Puente-Maestu declares no conflict of interest. Ebymar Arismendi declares no conflict of interest. Alfredo De Diego declares no conflict of interest. Francisco Javier González-Barcala has received consulting fees and speaker's honoraria from ALK, AstraZeneca, Bial, Chiesi, GebroPharma, GlaxoSmithKline, Menarini, Novartis, Rovi, Roxall, Sanofi, Stallergenes-Greer and Teva. Luis Pérez De Llano has received consulting fees and speaker's honoraria from AstraZeneca, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline, FAES, MSD, Sanofi, Techdow Pharma and Teva, and his institution has received grants from AstraZeneca, FAES and Sanofi. Luis Cea-Calvo, Marta Sánchez-Jareño, and Pilar López-Cotarelo are full-time employees of MSD Spain. Assessed using an 11-point Likert scale, where higher numbers indicate greater severity/impact. Results pertain to the day before the study visit. Not all patients responded to all items. The total number of respondents is specified for each item. Percentages in each cough-severity VAS tertile are calculated based on the number of respondents in that tertile.