Table 1.

Geographical distribution of requests for consultations in patients with chronic cough

Specialist consulted	Overall Italy (n=293)	Italian areas			Overall p-valuea
		Northern (n=87)	Central (n=62)	Southern (n=144)
Allergologists	213 (72.7%)	65 (74.7%), p=0.598	44 (71.0%), p=0.680	104 (72.2%), p=0.923	0.866
Otorhinolaryngologists	182 (62.1%)	44 (50.6%), p=0.012	41 (66.1%), p=0.339	97 (67.4%), p=0.123	0.030
Pneumologists	97 (33.1%)	38 (43.7%), p=0.064	27 (43.5%), p=0.094	32 (22.2%), p<0.001	0.001
Gastroenterologists	52 (17.7%)	10 (11.5%), p=0.351	6 (9.7%), p=0.175	36 (25.0%), p=0.002	0.006

Notes: p-values compare the frequency within each area versus the total frequency observed in Italy (hierarchical log-linear model).

^aPearson’s chi-square test.