Efficacy of Speech-Language Pathology Management for Refractory Chronic Cough: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Double-Dummy Blinding
Objective: To analyze the efficacy of speech-language pathology management of refractory chronic cough (RCC). Methods: This was a clinical trial with parallel randomization and a double-dummy blinding study. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee. Thirty-one individuals with RCC participated in this study and were randomly allocated as follows: Control Group (CG) – 15 individuals with a mean age of 63.93 years, including four males and 11 females, who received Speech Pathology Evaluation and Intervention for Chronic Cough (SPEICH-C); Experimental Group (EG) – 16 individuals with a mean age of 53.63 years, including six males and ten females, who received the Therapy Program for Management of Chronic Cough (TMCC). The outcomes assessed were vocal self-perception and laryngeal sensitivity (visual analog scale), cough frequency and intensity (visual analog scale), laryngeal sensitivity symptoms (Newcastle Laryngeal Hypersensitivity Questionnaire), and the impact of RCC on quality of life (Leicester Cough Questionnaire). Patients were evaluated at baseline (M0), after four intervention sessions (M1), one month (M2), and three months (M3) post-intervention. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA, and post hoc analysis was performed with Tukey's test with Bonferroni correction. Effect sizes were calculated using partial eta squared. Results: There was a significant time effect for vocal self-perception [F(2)=12.558, p<0.001, ___=0.309], laryngeal sensitivity self-perception [F(1)=13.232, p<0.001, ___=0.321], cough frequency [F(2)=46.524, p<0.001, ___=0.624], cough intensity [F(2)=27.965, p<0.001, ___=0.500], laryngeal sensitivity [F(2)=10.944, p<0.001, ___=0.281], physical quality of life factor [F(1)=23.536, p<0.001, ___=0.457], psychological quality of life factor [F(1)=11.196, p<0.001, ___=0.286], social quality of life factor [F(1)=7.727, p=0.001, ___=0.216], and total quality of life score [F(1)=16.356, p<0.001, ___=0.368]. M3 showed better results than M0, M1, and M2 (p<0.05 for all). For cough frequency and intensity, the physical factor, and total quality of life score, M0 was higher than M1 and M2 (p<0.001 for all). For the psychological quality of life factor, M0 was also lower than M1 (p=0.021). Conclusion: The speech-language pathology management methods for RCC showed no differences between them, both proving effective across all outcomes, with continuous improvement for some outcomes. The best results were observed three months post-intervention across all assessed outcomes.