Treatment of Chronic Cough: Single-Institution Experience Utilizing Behavioral Therapy

Objective

Chronic cough remains a challenging condition, especially in cases where it persists despite comprehensive medical management. For these particular patients, there appears to be an emerging role for behavior modification therapy. We report a series of patients with refractory chronic cough to assess if there is any benefit of adding behavioral therapy to their treatment regimen.

Study Design

A case series with planned chart review of patients treated for chronic cough.

Setting

The review was performed with an outpatient electronic health record system at a tertiary care center.

Subjects and Methods

The charts of all patients treated for chronic cough by a single laryngologist over a 30-month period were analyzed. Patients' response to treatment and rate of cough improvement were assessed for those with refractory chronic cough who underwent behavior modification therapy.

Results

Thirty-eight patients with chronic cough were initially treated empirically for the most common causes of cough, of which 32% experienced improvement. Nineteen patients who did not significantly improve with medical management underwent behavior modification therapy with a speech-language pathologist. Of these patients, 84% experienced resolution or marked improvement of their symptoms.

Conclusion

Behavioral therapy may be underutilized in practice and could lead to improvement of otherwise recalcitrant cough.

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