RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Psychological profile of individuals presenting with chronic cough
JF ERJ Open Research
JO erjor
FD European Respiratory Society
SP 00099-2016
DO 10.1183/23120541.00099-2016
VO 3
IS 1
A1 Hulme, Katrin
A1 Deary, Vincent
A1 Dogan, Sian
A1 Parker, Sean M.
YR 2017
UL http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/3/1/00099-2016.abstract
AB Chronic refractory cough (CRC) is a common problem in respiratory clinics. Adverse effects on quality of life are documented in the literature, but relatively little is known about the underlying psychological factors in this patient population. We aimed to investigate the association of psychological factors with chronic cough, comparing CRC to explained cough and non-cough groups.67 patients attending a specialist cough clinic (CRC, n=25; explained cough, n=42) and 22 non-cough individuals participated. All participants completed the Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale, Big Five Inventory (Personality), Chalder Fatigue Scale and Patient Health Questionnaire-15. Cough patients also completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised. Appropriate statistical analyses were used to compare participant groups.Chronic refractory coughers displayed significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression, fatigue and somatic physical symptoms than non-cough participants. Compared to explained coughers, there were higher depression and fatigue scores and significantly more negative illness representations (specifically, strong beliefs regarding negative consequences, lower illness coherence and higher emotional representations). “Explained” coughers reported significantly increased fatigue and somatic symptoms in comparison to non-coughers.The prevalence of fatigue, low mood, negative illness beliefs and increased physical symptom reporting should be considered in consultations and in developing novel interventions for CRC patients.Refractory cough is associated with psychological factors, such as low mood, illness beliefs and fatigue http://ow.ly/hbKt30923pb