A comparison of gender differences in health-related quality of life in acute and chronic coughers
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of PsychiatryDepartment of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2005-06-11Keywords
Acute DiseaseAdult
Age Factors
Analysis of Variance
Chronic Disease
Cohort Studies
Cough
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Incidence
Male
Middle Aged
Probability
Prospective Studies
*Quality of Life
Severity of Illness Index
Sex Factors
Sickness Impact Profile
Statistics, Nonparametric
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
STUDY OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of women and men is adversely affected by acute cough (AC), affected differently by AC, or affected differently by AC and chronic cough (CC). DESIGN: Analysis of consecutively and prospectively collected AC data from two time periods, and previously prospectively and consecutively collected CC data that had not been previously analyzed. When no differences were found in the two cohorts of acute coughers, as was the case in the greatest majority of comparisons, the two samples were pooled, treated as one sample of acute coughers, and compared with chronic coughers. SETTINGS: Primary care and cough clinics in an academic, tertiary care medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects prospectively seeking medical attention complaining of AC for < 3 weeks and CC for at least 8 weeks. MEASUREMENT: All subjects completed the cough-specific quality-of-life questionnaire (CQLQ) prior to contact with a physician and medical intervention. RESULTS: Of 62 acute coughers, 32 were women and 30 were men (p = 0.25). Total CQLQ scores for women were 59.9, and for men they were 59.2. (There was no difference in total CQLQ scores in the two cohorts of acute coughers.) The mean (+/- SD) combined total CQLQ score of women and men of 59.57 +/- 10.4 was higher (t90 = 11.39; p < 0.0001) than the score in an historical control group of women and men who were not complaining of cough (35.06 +/- 8.40). In acute coughers, there were no gender differences in the total or six subscale scores when the two cohorts were considered separately or combined. Of 172 chronic coughers, 116 were women and 56 were men (p < 0.0001). Women with CC rated themselves significantly higher than did women with AC on the total CQLQ and on five of the six subscales. Women with AC did not rate themselves higher on any of the CQLQ subscales. Total CQLQ scores for men with AC and CC were similar. Men with CC, compared with men with AC, scored significantly higher in two of six subscales (and significantly lower in one subscale) and scored similarly in three subscales. CONCLUSIONS: AC, like CC, adversely affected the HRQOL of women and men. Unlike CC, AC did not adversely affect the HRQOL of women more than men. The HRQOL of women is more adversely affected than the HRQOL of men, the longer a cough lasts.Source
Chest. 2005 Jun;127(6):1991-8. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1378/chest.129.1_suppl.1SPermanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/41283PubMed ID
15947311Related Resources
Link to article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1378/chest.129.1_suppl.1S