Parents of children with chronic cough may suffer from additional stress and worry beyond the normal stress of parenting.

In a new study, Australian researchers administered questionnaires measuring anxiety, depression, stress, and burden of cough to 79 parents of 190 children who were newly referred for chronic cough. More than 80 percent of children had five or more doctor visits, and 53 percent had more than 10 visits. Although parental anxiety and depression scores revealed normal results, burden of cough scores correlated to parental depression, anxiety, and stress scores while a child was coughing.

At follow-up, the reduction in parental burden scores was significantly higher in the "ceased coughing" group compared with the "still coughing" group. Furthermore, stress was the largest contributor to parents' emotional distress.

This study is published in the August issue of the journal CHEST.

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CHEST is the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). Each month it features cutting edge original research in the multidisciplinary specialties of chest medicine, such as pulmonology, critical care, sleep medicine, cardiorespiratory interactions, thoracic surgery, transplantation, airways disease, and more. CHEST also features Recent Advances, Topics in Practice Management, Medical Writing Tips, Pearls, Chest Imaging and Pathology for Clinicians, Contemporary Reviews, and much, much more. Editorials and communications to the editor explore controversial issues and encourage further discussion by physicians dealing with chest medicine. More than 30,000 readers worldwide turn to CHEST each month to keep up-to-date on the latest in chest-related medicine.

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