• Sang Chul Lee, Seong-Woong Kang, Min Tae Kim, Yong Kyun Kim, Won Hyuk Chang, and Sang Hee Im.
• Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kwandong University College of Medicine, Gyunggi, South Korea.
• Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2013 Aug 1; 94 (8): 1580-3.

ObjectiveTo correlate voluntary cough and laryngeal cough reflex (LCR) flows in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).DesignCross-sectional study.SettingUniversity rehabilitation hospital.ParticipantsPatients with TBI (n=25) and healthy controls (n=48).InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasuresPeak cough flows (PCFs) and LCR flows were measured using a peak flow meter at the oral-nasal interface. The largest value of 3 attempts was recorded for PCF and LCR, respectively. LCR was elicited by 20% solution of pharmaceutic-grade citric acid dissolved in sterile .15M NaCl solution that was inhaled from a nebulizer.ResultsPCF was 447.4 ± 99.0 L/min in the control group and 211.7 ± 58.2 L/min in the patient group. LCR was 209.2 ± 63.8L/min in the control group and 170.0 ± 59.7 L/min in the patient group. Both PCF (P=.000) and LCR (P=.013) were significantly reduced in patients with TBI compared to that of the control group. LCR was strongly related to the PCF in both control (R=.645; P=.000) and patient (R=.711; P=.000) groups.ConclusionsAs LCR can be measured as a numerical value and significantly correlates with PCF, LCR can be used to estimate cough ability of patients with TBI who cannot cooperate with PCF measurement.Copyright © 2013 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

33 keywords...

hide…