Impact of chronic cough on quality of life

Abstract

Chronic cough affects approximately 10% of adults worldwide with large global variations from 2-18%. Despite its detrimental effects on physical, psychological, and social well-being, there is limited understanding of the specific impacts of chronic cough on individuals’ daily lives. This review summarizes the impact of chronic cough across various life domains, including social interactions, work productivity, physical and psychological functioning, burden of investigations, treatment-related adverse events, and mortality. The review highlights the importance of considering different phenotypes of chronic cough in patient management to enable comprehensive evaluations that incorporate specific patient-­reported outcomes for each phenotype. By adopting this approach, a comprehensive assessment can facilitate tailored interventions that improve patient-reported outcomes. Further research is needed to standardize the diagnosis of phenotypes, develop disease-­specific patient-reported outcome measures, and conduct well-designed randomized controlled trials to evaluate both disease-specific and nonspecific therapies for individuals with chronic cough.