(A713) Does Chronic Cough Impact Sleepiness?

Introduction: Chronic cough continues to be a significant medical issue for patients in all states of health. While prior studies demonstrate that chronic cough diminishes quality of life, its specific impact on sleep has not been well characterized. Cough may impact sleep and many of these patients report sleep disturbances caused by recurrent episodes of coughing. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between chronic cough severity and daytime sleepiness.

Methods: Inclusion criteria included individuals over 18 years of age who presented to the University of Washington Laryngology clinic with the chief complaint of chronic cough. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea were included, however this diagnosis and compliance with treatment were recorded. At the time of enrollment, patients completed the Cough Severity Index (CSI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).

Results: Twenty patients participated in this prospective cross-sectional study. The median CSI was 16.00 [IQR 3.75-24.0] and the median ESS was 5.0 [IQR 2.75-9.5], which is within the range of normal daytime sleepiness. The correlation between ESS and CSI was 0.380, indicating mild to moderate correlation. The correlation between age and ESS was –0.5 and between age and CSI was –0.51 indicating moderate correlation. Given the small sample size, confidence intervals and p values were not included.

Conclusions: There was a mild to moderate correlation between patient-reported cough severity and ESS scores. While causation cannot be determined from this study, it is possible that sleep-time coughing may lead to increased daytime sleepiness. Additional studies are needed to elucidate possible directionality of the correlation. Further direction may explore if sleep disruption responds to treatment of the underlying cough.