TABLE 1.

Cough sensations and triggers from concept elicitation via semi-structured interviews, in patients with refractory chronic cough (n=10), with illustrative quotations

	Total	Patient										Illustrative quotation
		A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J
Sensations
Tickle in throat	9	p	p		p	p	s	p	p	s	p	Straightforward. Anyone gets a tickle in the throat, they're gonna cough
Urge to cough	8		p	p	p	s	s	s	s		s	Something in there all the time…you wanna cough just to get rid of something
Dry throat	8	p	p		s	s	s		p	s	s	I tend to drink a lot of water and things, and tea, just to lubricate the throat
Irritation in throat	8	s	p		p	s	s	s	s	p		There is something that's irritating your throat that you can't do anything about it
Itchy throat	5	s				s	p		p	p		A pinprick sensation in my throat…Just one spot. And that itches. And it makes me cough
Sensation in chest	4	s	p	p							s	You've written what I would describe. It's a sensation in the chest rather than in the throat
Blockage in throat	1		s									I always feel like there's a blockage and it won't clear unless I've got to an end of a cough
Choking	1				s							Because I have that feeling of choking and I've got that urge to cough to clear it
Prickle in throat	1						s					It's sort of like a prickling and a tickling in the back of my throat
Triggers
Smoke/smoky atmosphere	9	p	p		s	p	p	p	s	p	s	Smoke from bonfires, people smoking, even if they're not, you know it's on their clothes. It's just an irritant
Change in body position	9	s	s	s	s	s	p	s		s	p	So from lying down to sitting up in bed, I start off without fail
Perfumes/scents	8	s	s		s	s	s	p	s		p	I avoid perfume counters or where all the washing products are kept because that definitely affects me
Talking	8		p	p		p	p	s	p	s	s	You're forcing, the strain on your throat, drying your mouth out
Exercise	8	s	s	p		s	p		p	p	p	The more I do it, the worse it'll be. And I just, I end up giving up with it half the time. It's not worth it
Cold air	7	s	p	s			s		p	s	s	It catches you all of a sudden when you go out in the cold
Dry air	7		p		p	s	s		p	p	s	If you've got air conditioning or fans going on, it feels hot, it feels dry. And dry winds too would trigger it
Laughing	7	s	p		p		p	p	p		p	Laughing is a big one. I think you'll find most people will say yes, it starts me coughing
Sputum	7	s	p	s	s			p	p		s	It makes you wanna cough. Get rid of stuff from the chest, rubbish in the throat
Eating/drinking	6	p				s	s	s	p	s		I eat fruits before I eat my food. And when I start on eating them, yeah, it comes on soon
Brushing teeth	6	p	p				p	p	p	p		It's anything around the back of the throat. Just, well, a gag reaction and coughing
Hot air	4		p			p	s		s			I tend to not have the heating on because I feel I can breathe better. That the air is better for me
Damp	4		p					p	p		p	If it is cold and my hair's damp it will start my cough
Post-nasal drip	4				p	p				p	p	The throat's…itchy through something that's gone down the back of the nose
Heartburn	3			p	p						p	I drink really cold water…it makes the heartburn go away but often the heartburn will cause me to cough
Dust	2		s	s								When you're where there's a lot of dust…you're then breathing it in, causing you to cough it out
Stress	2			s		s						When you stress yourself, you bring it up on yourself ’cause you start coughing
Indigestion	1		p									I don't digest food properly with my Crohn's and that can cause issues where food hasn't gone down properly
Singing	1		s									I will have to cough if I try to do a little bit more than just a standard bit
Air conditioning	1			s								If we had air conditioning on, I wouldn't be able to have this conversation
Facemask	1					s						As soon as I put the mask on I start coughing
Pollen	1						s					The hay fever and pollen seem to affect it
Cleaning products	1						s					Cleaning, definitely, with the fluids and soap powders
Paint fumes	1								s			Paint smells. That's sort of thing, just creates a reaction
New items		14	9	3	2	1	3	0	1	0	0
Total items		14	21	11	13	16	19	12	18	13	16

Shaded boxes indicate new concepts. p: prompted; s: reported spontaneously.