Chronic Refractory Cough: Long-Term Outcomes Following Cough Suppression Therapy

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Pulmonology
• Behavioral therapy

Background:

• Chronic refractory cough (CRC) significantly impacts quality of life.
• Objective long-term outcome data for behavioral treatments like cough suppression therapy (CST) for CRC is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the long-term efficacy of cough suppression therapy (CST) in patients with chronic refractory cough (CRC).
• To evaluate the durability of cough severity reduction and voice quality over time after CST.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of 106 adult patients with CRC, identifying 24 with at least 3-month follow-up data post-CST.
• Utilized otolaryngologic evaluations, Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), and Cough Severity Index (CSI) scores for pre-treatment, post-treatment, and long-term follow-up assessments.
• Analyzed data based on the number of comorbidities to explore potential correlations.

Main Results:

• Twenty out of 24 patients demonstrated a significant reduction in cough severity post-CST (P < 0.001).
• Cough Severity Index (CSI) scores showed significant improvement from pre-therapy to long-term follow-up (P = 0.001).
• No significant changes in CSI or VHI-10 scores were observed between post-therapy and long-term follow-up, indicating sustained improvement. No correlation was found between comorbidities and cough/voice severity.

Conclusions:

• Cough suppression therapy (CST) leads to sustained long-term improvement in chronic refractory cough (CRC) for most patients.
• Patients can maintain reduced cough severity over the long term, suggesting CST provides lasting benefits.
• The number of comorbidities did not significantly impact long-term cough or voice outcomes in patients treated with CST.