Impact of cough across different chronic respiratory diseases: comparison of two cough-specific health-related quality of life questionnaires.
BACKGROUND
Cough is a prominent symptom across a range of common chronic respiratory diseases and impacts considerably on patient health status.


METHODS
We undertook a cross-sectional comparison of scores from two cough-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaires, the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ), and the Cough Quality of Life Questionnaire (CQLQ), together with a generic HRQoL measure, the EuroQol. Questionnaires were administered to and spirometry performed on 147 outpatients with chronic cough (n = 83), COPD (n = 18), asthma (n = 20), and bronchiectasis (n = 26).


RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the LCQ and CQLQ total scores between groups (p = 0.24 and p = 0.26, respectively). Exploratory analyses of questionnaire subdomains revealed differences in psychosocial issues and functional impairment between the four groups (p = 0.01 and p = 0.05, respectively). CQLQ scores indicated that chronic coughers have more psychosocial issues than patients with bronchiectasis (p = 0.03) but less functional impairment than COPD patients (p = 0.04). There was a significant difference in generic health status across the four disease groups (p = 0.04), with poorest health status in COPD patients. A significant inverse correlation was observed between CQLQ and LCQ in each disease group (chronic cough r = - 0.56, p < 0.001; COPD r = - 0.49, p = 0.04; asthma r = - 0.94, p < 0.001; and bronchiectasis r = - 0.88, p < 0.001). There was no correlation between cough questionnaire scores and FEV(1) in any group, although a significant correlation between EuroQol visual analog scale component and FEV(1) (r = 0.639, p = 0.004) was observed in COPD patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Cough adversely affects health status across a range of common respiratory diseases. The LCQ and CQLQ can each provide important additional information concerning the impact of cough.
Polley
Liam
L
Regional Respiratory Centre, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Yaman
Nurman
N
Regional Respiratory Centre, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Heaney
Liam
L
Belfast City Hospital, Respiratory Research Group, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Cardwell
Chris
C
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Murtagh
Eimear
E
Department of Radiology, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Ramsey
John
J
Department of Radiology, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
MacMahon
Joseph
J
Regional Respiratory Centre, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Costello
Richard W
RW
Department of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland.
McGarvey
Lorcan
L
Belfast City Hospital, Respiratory Research Group, The Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Electronic address: l.mcgarvey@qub.ac.uk.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D001987:Bronchiectasis / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003371:Cough / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires