Background and aim

Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD) and chronic cough (CC) are challenging conditions which lead to significant quality of life impairment. The underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, but laryngeal dysfunction may be common to both conditions. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of cough in VCD and whether patients with cough have coexisting VCD.

Method

Participants included 51 patients with VCD and a comparison group of 39 patients with chronic cough that was refractory to medical treatment. Participants underwent a comprehensive assessment including questionnaires, laryngoscopy, cough frequency monitoring and voice testing.

Results

Patients with VCD had significant cough morbidity with an increased cough frequency of 17.3 coughs/hour and reduced cough quality of life with mean Leicester Cough Questionnaire Score of 12.8. Breathing pattern abnormalities were also common in VCD and there was a strong correlation between the number of breathing pattern abnormalities and cough frequency (r = −0.827, p = 0.002). Cough measures were not significantly different between patients with VCD and those with CC. Moderate-severe PVFM was present in 69% of patients with CC. Abnormal vocal fold closure during phonation was also present in patients with chronic cough and was similar between the VCD (n = 40, 78.4%) and cough (n = 25, 64.1%) groups, p = 0.240.

Conclusion

Cough is an important symptom in VCD. Patients presenting with chronic cough may have underlying VCD as a cause of their cough. Since cough and VCD symptoms co-occur clinicians need to consider cough when are treating VCD and VCD when treating chronic cough.

中文翻译：

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声带功能障碍的慢性咳嗽：临床实体的描述。

背景和目标

声带功能障碍（VCD）和慢性咳嗽（CC）是具有挑战性的疾病，会导致生活质量显着下降。人们对潜在的机制了解甚少，但是喉功能障碍可能在两种情况下都很常见。这项研究的目的是确定VCD中咳嗽的特征以及咳嗽患者是否同时存在VCD。

方法

参与者包括51例VCD患者和对照组39例对药物治疗无效的慢性咳嗽患者。参加者进行了全面的评估，包括问卷，喉镜检查，咳嗽频率监测和语音测试。

结果

VCD患者有明显的咳嗽发病率，咳嗽频率增加17.3咳嗽/小时，咳嗽生活质量下降，莱斯特咳嗽问卷平均得分为12.8。呼吸模式异常在VCD中也很常见，呼吸模式异常的数量与咳嗽频率之间有很强的相关性（r = -0.827，p = 0.002）。VCD患者和CC患者的咳嗽措施无明显差异。CC患者中有69％存在中度至重度PVFM。慢性咳嗽患者在发声期间也存在异常的声带闭合，在VCD组（n = 40，78.4％）和咳嗽组（n = 25，64.1％）之间相似，p = 0.240。

结论

咳嗽是VCD的重要症状。表现出慢性咳嗽的患者可能因潜在的VCD而引起了咳嗽。由于咳嗽和VCD症状同时发生，因此临床医生在治疗VCD和VCD时需要考虑咳嗽，而慢性咳嗽则需要考虑。