{
  "abstract": "Introduction Chronic cough (duration >8 weeks) is a common and burdensome medical problem; however, little is known about the concept of control of disease in chronic cough. In turn, existing patient reported outcome measures in cough focus almost exclusively on severity or health status. We aimed to investigate the concepts of control of cough from the patients’ perspective.Methods Consecutive patients with chronic cough were recruited from a specialist cough clinic for focus groups. Focus groups (max 4 participants) were semi-structured with open-to-closed questioning following an iterative process, and recruitment continued until thematic saturation. Interviews were recorded verbatim and analysed through open coding for thematic analysis.Results A total of 14 participants were recruited; median (IQR) age 65 (57–70) years, 10 (71%) female, cough duration 15 (4–25) years, and 13 (93%) with a diagnosis of refractory chronic cough. A total of nine themes were identified, and broadly referred to frequency, urge, sequelae and suppression of cough.Patients were burdened by cough frequency and fits or bouts. ‘…more than anything else…the frequency…of the coughing’‘…a bad coughing fit…I feel as if my throat is completely closing up’Patients were also affected by urge to cough, triggers of cough and the unpredictability of coughing.‘It’s a very tickly sensation in my throat…’‘…the smell of very strong aftershaves or detergent will trigger the cough…’‘…that’s the (unpredictable) cough that’s worse because you don’t know why (it happens)…’Interference to activities of daily living, and physical, emotional and social impacts of cough, were significant sequalae.‘…we’re asking you (patient) to leave because the cough is upsetting other patrons…’‘Sometimes I pee on myself (when I cough)…’‘I burst into tears…I was just so sad.’Finally, patients valued the ability to suppress cough.‘I’ve got water…I’m sucking sweets (to suppress my cough).’Abstract P103 Figure 1A word cloud to demonstrate words and phrases most prominent from patient focus group transcript coding in relation to cough control. Larger font denotes greater frequencyConclusion Themes were identified with patients to facilitate the construction of a preliminary conceptual framework on control of chronic cough as a disease. Further work will investigate the concepts of control of cough with experts, and integrate both the patients’ and experts’ perspectives to construct a holistic conceptual framework of cough control.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Chest Unit, Cheyne Wing, King’s College Hospital, London, UK",
        "Centre for Human and Applied Physiological Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "EC Mackay"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Chest Unit, Cheyne Wing, King’s College Hospital, London, UK",
        "Centre for Human and Applied Physiological Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "KL Rhatigan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia",
        "School of Medicine and Dentistry, Griffith University, Southport, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "RD Turner"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Chest Unit, Cheyne Wing, King’s College Hospital, London, UK",
        "Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "KJ Myall"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea"
      ],
      "name": "WJ Song"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "JH Hull"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Chest Unit, Cheyne Wing, King’s College Hospital, London, UK",
        "Centre for Human and Applied Physiological Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "SS Birring"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Respiratory Medicine, Chest Unit, Cheyne Wing, King’s College Hospital, London, UK",
        "Centre for Human and Applied Physiological Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "PSP Cho"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P103 Patients’ perspective of control in chronic cough",
  "uid": "470699e1-6434-5c70-b2e1-d0910fcadda2"
}