Antitussive Effect of a Chest Band in Patients with Interstitial Lung Disease: The Preliminary Results from a Pre-post Intervention Study

OBJECTIVE: Evidence supporting the efficiency of clinically administered therapies against interstitial lung disease (ILD)-related cough is limited. Thus, we conducted a study to evaluate the efficacy of short-term use of chest bands on cough in patients with ILD. METHODS: This pre-post intervention study was performed at two university hospitals between April 2017 and August 2020. Scores of the visual analog scale (VAS) for cough severity (in terms of frequency and intensity), Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ)-acute, and frequency scale for symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (FSSG) were assessed before and after the use of the chest band (24/48 hours). PATIENTS: The study included patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs) or connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD). RESULTS: Four patients with IIPs and seven with CTD-ILD were included in the analysis. The cough intensity and LCQ-acute total score improved significantly after the use of the chest band (p=0.007 and p=0.005, respectively), although the cough frequency showed no significant reduction (p=0.074). Furthermore, the FSSG total and acid-reflux symptom scores improved (p=0.018 and p=0.027, respectively), and a negative correlation between the change in LCQ-acute total score and that in FSSG score for acid-reflux symptoms was observed (Spearman rho =-0.841, p=0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of the current study suggest that chest bands might be useful for treating chronic refractory cough in patients with ILD and gastroesophageal reflux disease. However, these results should be interpreted with caution due to methodological limitations associated with this study.