What is the burden of chronic cough for families?
GROUND: The burden of children’s chronic cough to parents is largely unknown. The objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to determine the burden of chronic cough using a purposely designed questionnaire, and (2) to evaluate psychological (child’s anxiety and parental emotional distress) and other influences on the reported burden of cough. METHODS: Parents of children newly referred for chronic cough completed three questionnaires (Spence anxiety scale; depression, anxiety, and stress 21-item scale [DASS]; and burden of cough questionnaire) at enrollment. The last 79 parents also completed these questionnaires at follow-up. RESULTS: Median age of the 190 children recruited was 2.6 years. The number of medical consultations for coughing illness in the last 12 months was high: > 80% of children had > or = 5 doctor visits and 53% had > 10 visits. At presentation, burden scores correlated to parental DASS scores when their child was coughing. Stress was the largest contributor to pa
