title: Validated methods of cough assessment: a systematic review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cough is a common symptom for which patients often seek medical advice and consume vast amounts of drugs. It is a real challenge for both the physician and the clinical researcher to evaluate a cough's clinical importance and its precise response to treatment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This systematic literature review has the following objectives: first, to make an inventory of the validated tools for assessing cough, and second, to investigate the extent to which the results of various assessment methods can be correlated.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two independent investigators searched the Medline, Embase, and Cochrane databases for validation studies on cough assessment tools.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-four studies were included. Several ambulatory cough monitors automatically identify cough and have been validated in a limited number of patients. Three cough-specific quality-of-life scales (Leicester Cough Questionnaire, Cough Quality of Life Questionnaire, and Burden of Cough Questionnaire) have been validated. No validation studies of descriptive scores or visual analogue scales were found. The correlations between quality-of-life scores and cough frequency were good. The correlations between descriptive scores or visual analogue scales and more objective methods, such as cough frequency monitoring or quality-of-life scores, were inconsistent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cough-specific quality-of-life questionnaires can provide valid outcomes for research into cough. Although the current developments in cough monitoring devices are promising, further studies on a larger scale, under more realistic conditions, and for different patterns of cough are required before they can be recommended for widespread use.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche Santé et Société, Centre Académique de Médecine Générale, Université catholique de Louvain, Bruxelles, Belgique. sophie.leconte@uclouvain.be
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leconte
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferrant
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dory
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Degryse
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003371:Cough / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic