Korean version of the Cough Symptom Score: clinical utility and validity for chronic cough

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The Cough Symptom Score (CSS) is a simple, useful tool for measuring cough severity. However, there is no standard Korean version of the CSS. We developed a Korean version of the CSS and evaluated its clinical utility and validity for assessing chronic cough severity. METHODS: The CSS was adapted for Korean use following a forward-backward translation procedure. Patients with chronic cough enrolled from five university hospitals were graded using the CSS and a 100-mm linear visual analog scale (VAS) of cough severity at each visit. Patients completed the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) upon presentation and completed the LCQ and Global Rating of Change at follow-up visits after 2 to 4 weeks. The concurrent validity, repeatability, and responsiveness of the Korean version of the CSS were determined. RESULTS: Correlation coefficients between the CSS and LCQ, and between the CSS and VAS, were –0.66 and 0.52, respectively. There was a weak correlation between the scores for night and day symptoms (r = 0.24, p = 0.0006). The repeatability of the CSS in patients with no change in cough (n = 23) was high (intra-class correlation coefficient, 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51 to 0.88). Patients who reported an improvement in cough (n = 30) at follow-up visits had a significant improvement in the CSS (median, −2; 95% CI, −3 to −1; p = 0.0003). CONCLUSIONS: The Korean version of the CSS correlated well with other tools for accessing cough severity in chronic cough patients. Therefore, it could be a reliable method for measuring chronic cough severity.

Clinical effect of fluticasone salmeterol powder for inhalation in treatment of patients with cough variant asthma / 中国生化药物杂志

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of seretide (fluticasone/salmeterol) in treatment of patients with cough variant asthma(CVA). Methods 86 CVA patients were treated with fluticasone/salmeterol propionate 8 weeks, after 8 weeks, 86 patients were randomly assigned to treatment group and control group, each group with 43 patients, the treatment group continued medicine for 4 weeks, the control group without any treatment.The two groups of patients FENO measurement values, cough symptom score before treatment and after treatment for 8 weeks, 12 weeks were compared. Results After treatment for 8 weeks, cough symptom scores and FeNO in the two groups values decreased significantly compared with those before treatment(P<0.05), 12 weeks after treatment, treatment group cough product, FeNO values, were lower than in control group(P<0.05).Conclusion Fluticasone salmeterol powder inhalation can effectively improve the symptoms of cough cough variant asthma.Symptom score and FENO value can be used as a monitoring index to evaluate the therapeutic effect of CVA, and the FENO value is more effective, which has the advantages of non-invasive, simple, safe, rapid and repeatable.

Validation of the reliability and clinical value of the simplified cough score / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective To validate the repeatability of the simplified cough score and its responsiveness to effective treatment and investigate the relationship between the simplified cough score and cough symptom score.MethodsA total of 119 patients with chronic cough referred to our respiratory clinic were recruited into the study between June 2010 and February 2011. Cough severity was evaluated by the simplified cough score,cough symptom score,Leicester cough questionnaire,and cough reflex sensitivity detection,and the correlations among them were analyzed.The change ratio,effect size,and standardized response mean of the simplified cough score were calculated after a 2-week course of effective treatment.The repeatability of the simplified cough score was assessed in 99 untreated patients with stable chronic cough.ResultsThe intraclass correlation coefficient in a 3-day test-retest interval of simplified cough score was 0.90 ( 95 ％ CI =0.84 - 0.92,P =0.00 ) for daytime and 0.89 ( 95 ％ CI =0.91 - 0.96,P =0.00 ) for nighttime. There was an obvious positive linear correlation between the simplified cough score and cough symptom score ( daytime:r =0.82,P =0.00 ; nighttime:r =0.92,P =0.00 ),a significant negative linear correlation between the cough score and Leicester cough questionnaire,and a weak but significant negative correlation between the simplified cough score and cough threshold C2 or C5 to capsaicin. After a 2-week course of effective treatment,the change ratio,effect size,and standardized response mean were 46.71％,1.16,and 1.05 for daytime and 71.87％,1.09,and 1.10 for nighttime,respectively.ConclusionThe simplified cough score is a reliable and valid tool for evaluation of cough severity in clinical practice.