TY - JOUR T1 - Validation of the cough phenotype TBQ among elderly finnish subjects JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00284-2022 SP - 00284-2022 AU - Heikki O Koskela AU - Johanna T Kaulamo AU - Tuomas A Selander AU - Anne M Lätti Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/early/2022/09/01/23120541.00284-2022.abstract N2 - Background Phenotypes can be utilized in the clinical management of disorders. The approaches to phenotype disorders have evolved from subjective expert opinion to data-driven methodologies. A previous cluster analysis among working-age subjects with cough revealed a phenotype TBQ (Triggers, Background disorders, Quality of life impairment), which included 38% of the subjects with cough. The present study was carried out to validate this phenotyping among elderly, retired subjects with cough.Methods This was an observational, cross-sectional study conducted via email among the members of the Finnish Pensioners' Federation (N=26 205, 23.6% responded). The analysis included 1109 subjects with current cough (mean age 72.9 (sd 5.3) years) with 67.7% females). All filled in a comprehensive 86-item questionnaire including the Leicester Cough Questionnaire. Phenotypes were identified utilizing K-means partitional clustering.Results Two clusters were identified. The cluster A included 75.2% and cluster B 24.8% of the subjects. The three most important variables to separate the clusters were the number of cough triggers (mean 2.47 (2.34) versus 7.08 (3.16), respectively, p<0.001), Leicester Cough Questionnaire physical domain (5.38 (0.68) versus 4.21 (0.81), respectively, p<0.001), and the number of cough background disorders (0.82 (0.78) versus 1.99 (0.89), respectively, p<0.001).Conclusion The phenotype TBQ could be identified also among elderly, retired subjects with cough, thus validating the previous phenotyping among working-age subjects. The main underlying pathophysiological feature separating the phenotype TBQ from the common cough phenotype is probably hypersensitivity of the cough reflex arc.FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. ER -