Logo image
Back
Chronic Refractory Cough: Long-Term Outcomes Following Cough Suppression Therapy
Journal article   Peer reviewed

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

Ethan Simmons, Jessica F. Kim, Daniel DeChance, Benjamin J. Becerra, Brianna Crawley, Priya Krishna and Thomas Murry
Journal of voice, v 40(3), pp 924.e1-924.e6
01 May 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.11.011
PMID: 38057227

Abstract

Chronic cough Chronic refractory cough Cough severity Cough suppression therapy Long-term outcomes
This study aimed to determine the long-term outcomes of patients with chronic refractory cough (CRC) following treatment for cough suppression therapy (CST). Currently, there is a lack of objective data regarding the long-term outcome of behavioral treatment for CRC. From the charts of 106 adult patients diagnosed with CRC, 24 patients were identified as having long-term data at least 3 months post-CST in the form of otolaryngologic examination, Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), and Cough Severity Index (CSI) scores. Patients underwent otolaryngologic evaluation and completed the VHI-10 and CSI assessments during pretreatment, posttreatment, and long-term follow-up visits. Patients were also divided into two groups based on their number of comorbidities. Twenty of the 24 patients had significant reduction in cough severity after completing CST (P < 0.001). A significant difference was also found in CSI scores from pretherapy to the long-term follow-up visits (P = 0.001). No significant difference was found in CSI scores from posttherapy to long-term follow-up visits (P = 0.93). No significant difference was found in VHI-10 scores over time (P = 0.83). No correlation was found between changes in cough and voice severity and number of comorbidities at the tested level. Findings of no significant change in CRC over the long term compared to posttherapy measures suggest that patients were able to maintain improvement in cough over the long term despite various comorbidities. The current results suggest that CST represents a satisfactory approach to treating CRC and provides patients with an ongoing tool to maintain reduced cough severity. No significant correlations between number of comorbidities and mean CSI or VHI-10 scores were found over the long term.

Metrics

1 Record Views
5 citations in Web of Science

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

Source: SDGs in the Output

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Audiology & Speech-language Pathology
Otorhinolaryngology
Logo image