Impaired Cough-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Nontuberculous Mycobacteriosis.

Background: Cough and sputum are the significant symptoms of nontuberculous myco-bacteriosis (NTM) and impair quality of life (QOL). However, the relationship between these symptoms and clinical features is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate cough-related QOL in NTM patients.Methods: The study subjects included 78 patients with NTM at our hospital from October to December 2015. They completed the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) and the Cough and Sputum Assessment Questionnaire (CASA-Q) (both questionnaires: the higher, the better); the Frequency Scale for the Symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (FSSG), a validated Japanese questionnaire for GERD (the higher, the worse), was also assessed. The FSSG consists of 12 items, including the reflux-related symptoms and dys-motility symptoms domains, each of which is quantified on a scale of 0e4 points, and the cut-off score for GERD is set at 8 points. Associations between these scores and clinical parameters were assessed.Results: The total LCQ score was reduceddthe physical domain was dominant. The total LCQ and CASA-Q scores were reduced, with dominance in the physical and symptoms domains, respectively. The reflux-related symptoms score was higher than the dysmotility symptoms score. A multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that the mean total LCQ score was independently associated with current smoking, fibrocavitary type, bilateral cavitary lesion, and FSSG total score.Conclusions: Cough-related QOL was impaired in NTM patients who currently smoked, had radiological characteristics, and had GERD.(c) 2022 The Japanese Respiratory Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.