According to a new study published in the journal Chest individuals who suffer from a chronic cough may also be suffering from depression.
Researchers at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York enrolled one hundred person who were being treated for chronic cough. Each participant underwent standardized testing for depression using the CES-D scale.
The CES-D scale rates a person's mood based on a series of questions. It awards a point value according to answers and defines a cut-off value for depression. Any score above 16 indicates a greater degree of depression or depressive symptoms.
More than half of the participants scored above 16 on the CES-D scale. The mean score was 18.3. After a three month treatment period the average CES-D score dropped to 7.4, a decline that was coorelated with a decline in cough symtpoms.
Based on further analysis the authors concluded that chronic cough is significantly associated with depressive symtpoms. Treatment and alleviation of cough most always results in alleviation of depression.
In some cases the depression may not be due to cough, and as always any depressive symtpoms should not be ignored.
Posted by Dr. Christina Gutierrez on December 13, 2006 04:35 PM
