The disease burden and quality of life of chronic cough patients in South Korea and Taiwan

A population-based cross-sectional study using 2020 South Korea and Taiwan National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS), and a chronic cough (CC) survey investigated the prevalence and burden of respondents’ self-reported coughing for ≥8weeks. CC respondents were 1:3 propensity score matched to non-CC respondents. Between group differences in demographics, health characteristics and health outcomes were adjusted for. Age and sex distribution from the NHWS were used to weight CC responders to the adult population. The weighted lifetime and 12-month prevalence of CC was 6.2% and 4.3% in Korea and 8.3% and 5.6% in Taiwan. Compared to non-CC respondents, CC patients had poorer Health Related Quality of Life (SF12v2): physical component summary score (Korea: 47.69±7.68 vs 50.08±7.29; Taiwan: 48.58±7.15 vs 50.50±7.30) and mental component summary score (44.15±8.85 vs 46.28±8.50; 42.44±7.78 vs 44.60±8.08); EQ-5D index (0.73±0.23 vs 0.82±0.16; 0.82±0.13 vs 0.86±0.14); and more healthcare visits (7.80 vs 4.61; 6.09 vs 4.20) (p<0.05). CC patients also reported higher presenteeism issues (32.8% vs 21.0%; 25.9% vs 19.4%), total work productivity impairment (36.2% vs 22.3%; 27.7% vs 20.6%), and total activity impairment (34.2% vs 23.2%; 27.7% vs 20.3%) than non-CC respondents (p<0.001). CC patients experienced more anxiety (22.8% vs 8.6%; 12.7% vs 5.3%), depression (26.7% vs 13.5%; 11.2% vs 5.5%), and insomnia (35.6% vs 24.1%; 45.6% vs 31.9%) (p<0.05). CC patients reported greater disease burden impacting their mental health, work productivity and need for medical care compared to those without CC. Treatments that relieve this disease burden would be beneficial.