Evidence map›Paper›PMID 16844725›Full record

Trial reportThorax2006

Efficacy of speech pathology management for chronic cough: a randomised placebo controlled trial of treatment efficacy.

A E Vertigan, D G Theodoros, P G Gibson, A L Winkworth

Registry-linked trialOpen access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Thorax, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03457610 (Speech Therapy in the Management of Difficult-to-treat Chronic Cough), which is not on this map. Cited by 103 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
103citing papers in PubMed, 11 pooled it
3.8field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03457610 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2016, after this paper: background citation

Speech Therapy in the Management of Difficult-to-treat Chronic Cough

TypeinterventionalSponsorMedical University of WarsawRan2016 to 2020Enrolled30ConditionsCough, Speech TherapyArmsSpeech and language intervention
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

103 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 287 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Diagnosis and Treatment of Adult Patients with Cough.Respiration; international review of thoracic diseases · 2025
    Guideline
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Speech and language therapy for management of chronic cough.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019
    Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Guideline
  9. Pooled it
  10. Pooled it
  11. Pooled it
  12. Behavioral speech therapy intervention can improve the postoperative pain and performance status of lung cancer patients undergoing thoracoscopic surgery.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026
    Trial
  13. Trial
  14. Trial
  15. Trial
  16. Management of the respiratory distress symptom cluster in lung cancer: a randomised controlled feasibility trial.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2015
    Trial
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

A E VertiganDepartment of Speech Pathology, John Hunter Hospital, NSW 2310, Australia. anne.vertigan@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au
D G Theodoros
P G Gibson
A L Winkworth
John Hunter Hospital · AUCharles Sturt University · AUUniversity of Queensland · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChronic cough that persists despite medical treatment may respond to speech pathology intervention, but the efficacy of such treatment has not been investigated in prospective randomised trials. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of a speech pathology intervention programme for chronic cough.

methodsA single blind, randomised, placebo controlled trial was conducted in 87 patients with chronic cough that persisted despite medical treatment. Patients were randomly allocated to receive either a specifically designed speech pathology intervention or a placebo intervention. Participants in both groups attended four intervention sessions with a qualified speech pathologist.

resultsParticipants in the treatment group had a significant reduction in cough (8.9 to 4.6, p<0.001), breathing (7.9 to 4.7, p<0.001), voice (7.3 to 4.6, p<0.001) upper airway (8.9 to 5.9, p<0.001) symptom scores and limitation (2.3 to 1.6, p<0.001) ratings following intervention. There was also a significant reduction in breathing (6.8 to 5.6, p = 0.047), cough (7.6 to 6.3, p = 0.014), and limitation (2.3 to 2.0, p = 0.038) scores in the placebo group, but the degree of improvement was significantly less than in the treatment group (p<0.01). Clinical judgement of outcome indicated successful ratings in 88% of participants in the treatment group compared with 14% in the placebo group (p<0.001).

conclusionSpeech pathology is an effective management intervention for chronic cough which may be a viable alternative for patients who do not respond to medical treatment.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overChronic DiseaseCoughFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSingle-Blind MethodSpeech TherapyTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID16844725
PMCPMC2117063
OpenAlexW2164090174

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.