Chest
Original ResearchCoughWhat Is the Burden of Chronic Cough for Families?
Section snippets
Subjects
Children (aged < 18 years) newly referred for chronic cough (> 4 weeks)18 presenting to the Royal Children's Hospital, and one of their parents participated in this study. Data were collected on a standardized sheet where demographics were collected, subjective cough scores19 were obtained, and one parent (whoever was the primary caregiver for the child) answered three questionnaires (burden of cough; depression, anxiety, and stress 21-item scale [DASS];20, 21 and Spence children's anxiety
Results
Median age of the 190 children whose parents completed the questionnaires at presentation was 2.56 years (IQR, 1.13 to 5.91), and 55% (n = 104) were male. More than 80% of children had ≥ 5 visits to the doctor, and 53% (n = 101) made > 10 doctor visits for coughing illness in the last 12 months (Fig 1); 54% of parents (n = 103) had attended > 20 doctor appointments in their life for their child's coughing illness. The majority of parents (76%, n = 144) had consulted at least three different
Discussion
In this first study to systematically evaluate the burden of cough to parents of children with chronic cough, we found that the majority of parents sought repeated medical consultations from multiple specialists for their child's chronic cough. Burden scores correlated to measures of parental emotional distress using DASS21 of the parents when their child was coughing. Burden scores were significantly reduced when the child ceased coughing after intervention. The major contributor to the
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to sincerely thank the children and their parents who so willingly participated in the study. We also thank Drs. Masters, Francis, Dore, and Isles for allowing us to recruit their patients in this study, as well as Ria Halstead and Simone Taylor for data collection.
References (34)
Introduction to the diagnosis and management of cough: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines
Chest
(2006)- et al.
Quality of life in coughers
Pulm Pharmacol Ther
(2002) Complications of cough: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines
Chest
(2006)- et al.
Cough throughout life: children, adults and the senile
Pulm Pharmacol Ther
(2007) - et al.
Evaluation and impact of chronic cough: comparison of specific vs generic quality-of-life questionnaires
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
(2005) - et al.
Habitual coughing and its associations with asthma, anxiety, and gastroesophageal reflux
Chest
(1996) - et al.
Guidelines for evaluating chronic cough in pediatrics: ACCP evidence-based clinical practice guidelines
Chest
(2006) - et al.
The structure of anxiety symptoms among preschoolers
Behav Res Ther
(2001) A measure of anxiety symptoms among children
Behav Res Ther
(1998)- et al.
Evaluation and outcome of young children with chronic cough
Chest
(2006)
Development of a parent-proxy quality of life chronic cough specific questionnaire: clinical impact versus psychometric evaluations
Chest
Clinical impact versus factor analysis for quality of life questionnaire construction
J Clin Epidemiol
Major epidemiological changes in sudden infant death syndrome: a 20-year population-based study in the UK
Lancet
General practice activity in Australia 2003–2004
Bettering the evaluation and care of health: a study of general practice activity
Development of a symptom specific health status measure for patients with chronic cough: Leicester cough questionnaire (LCQ)
Thorax
Prevalence of psychomorbidity among patients with chronic cough
Cough
Cited by (170)
Controversies in Antibiotic Use for Chronic Wet Cough in Children
2024, Journal of PediatricsApproach to patient with cough by American and Chinese respiratory specialist
2021, Complementary Therapies in MedicineProfiles of Cough and Associated Risk Factors in Nonhospitalized Individuals With SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Infection: Cross-Sectional Online Survey in China
2024, JMIR Public Health and SurveillanceClinical determinants for State–Trait Anxiety Inventory of the parents of children with respiratory problems
2024, Pediatric PulmonologyPhenotypes of cough in children: A latent class analysis
2023, Clinical and Experimental Allergy
This research was conducted at the Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml).
- 1
Dr. Marchant is supported by the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation, Brisbane, and the TSANZ/Allen and Hanbury's Paediatric Respiratory Medicine Career Development Fellowship.
- 2
Dr. Chang is funded by the Royal Children's Hospital Foundation and a Practitioner Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia.