Division of Asthma, Allergy and Lung Biology, King's College London, UK.
Chron Respir Dis. 2011;8(4):253-8. doi: 10.1177/1479972311422547. Epub 2011 Oct 11.
Cough-suppression physiotherapy is a novel self-help therapy for chronic cough. We evaluated the effectiveness of cough physiotherapy in a pilot prospective observational study. We assessed cough-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) with the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) and subjectively reported cough frequency and sleep disturbance in 23 patients with chronic cough refractory to medical therapy, before and after outpatient-based cough-suppression physiotherapy. Cough-suppression physiotherapy consisted of education, counselling, cough control, breathing retraining, and vocal hygiene. There was a significant improvement in cough-specific HRQOL after cough physiotherapy; mean (standard error of mean [SEM]) LCQ total score before 12.4 (0.9) versus after 15.1 (0.9); 95% confidence interval of difference -4.1 to -1.3; p < 0.001. The improvement in cough-specific HRQOL was greater than the LCQ minimal clinically important difference of 1.3. A significant improvement was seen in all LCQ domains: physical (p = 0.001), psychological (p < 0.001) and social (p < 0.04). There was a significant reduction in cough frequency scores (p = 0.002) and sleep disturbance scores (p = 0.02). Our findings suggest cough-suppression physiotherapy may lead to a clinically significant improvement in cough-specific HRQOL in patients with chronic cough.
咳嗽抑制物理疗法是一种治疗慢性咳嗽的新型自助疗法。我们在一项试点前瞻性观察研究中评估了咳嗽物理疗法的效果。我们使用莱斯特咳嗽问卷（LCQ）评估了咳嗽特异性健康相关生活质量（HRQOL），并在 23 名对医学治疗有反应的慢性咳嗽患者中主观报告咳嗽频率和睡眠障碍，在门诊咳嗽抑制物理治疗前后。咳嗽抑制物理疗法包括教育、咨询、咳嗽控制、呼吸训练和发声卫生。咳嗽物理治疗后咳嗽特异性 HRQOL 显著改善；平均（均数标准误 [SEM]）LCQ 总分治疗前为 12.4（0.9），治疗后为 15.1（0.9）；差异的 95%置信区间为-4.1 至-1.3；p < 0.001。咳嗽特异性 HRQOL 的改善大于 LCQ 的 1.3 个最小临床重要差异。LCQ 的所有领域均有显著改善：身体（p = 0.001）、心理（p < 0.001）和社会（p < 0.04）。咳嗽频率评分（p = 0.002）和睡眠障碍评分（p = 0.02）显著降低。我们的发现表明，咳嗽抑制物理疗法可能会导致慢性咳嗽患者的咳嗽特异性 HRQOL 出现临床显著改善。
