title: [An analysis of factors for quality-of-life in patients with chronic cough].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To constitute a correlation with the subjective indicators by investigation of the causes and clinical features in patients with chronic cough.
  
  
  METHODS
  Totally 100 patients with chronic cough were recruited followed a diagnostic program. Airway responsiveness [by methacholine challenge test (MCT)], Leicester cough questionnaire (LCQ), visual analogue scale (VAS), cough score, age, gender and disease duration were all recorded for analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The top five causes of chronic cough in these patients were variant asthma, post infectious cough, atopic cough, eosinophilic bronchitis and upper airway cough syndrome. LCQ total score was negatively correlated with age and the VAS score (r = -0.239 and -0.470 respectively, all P < 0.05), while no difference was found among patients with different causes of disease or gender (F = 1.233, t = 1.918, all P > 0.05) and no correlation was found with BMI (r = -0.029, P > 0.05). The physiological and psychological field score in female patients significantly reduced (t = 2.174, 1.990, P < 0.05), and LCQ total score of MCT positive patients obviously reduced than negative ones (t = -2.22, P < 0.05). After the treatment of two weeks, LCQ three component field and total score could be improved significantly (all P < 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gender and age may have some impact on the quality of life in patients with chronic cough. LCQ, VAS and cough score should be used to assess cough severity and evaluate therapeutic effect in patients with chronic cough.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Qiu-feng
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Ling-fei
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Kong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003371:Cough / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult