Association of throat sensation severity with quality of life in patients with chronic cough

Background: Patients with chronic cough frequently present with abnormal throat sensations, but the clinical significance of such sensations remains unknown. This study examined the severity of throat sensations and their relationships with quality of life (QoL) in patients with chronic cough. Methods: The analysis used baseline cross-sectional data from the Korean Chronic Cough Registry. Throat sensation and cough severity were assessed using visual analog scales (VAS, 0–100) and were categorized into tertiles. Demographics and patient-reported outcomes were compared across the throat sensation severity tertiles. Cough-specific QoL was assessed using the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ). General health-related QoL was assessed using the standardized EuroQoL 5-Dimension (EQ-5D) instrument. Results: A total of 649 patients with chronic cough (females: 68.1%) with a mean age of 54.7 years were enrolled. Throat sensation severity VAS scores moderately correlated with cough VAS scores (r=0.469, P<0.001). Patients with more severe throat sensations (tertile 3) were younger and had more concomitant symptom and cough-induced complications than those with less severe throat sensations (tertile 1) (P<0.001). Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that throat sensation severity remained significantly associated with LCQ score and EQ-5D index, after adjusting for confounders, including cough severity (all P<0.05). Conclusions: Abnormal throat sensation may independently contribute to impaired QoL in patients with chronic cough, and its longitudinal impact warrants investigation.