Abstract P123: Prevalence of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitor-induced Cough and Impact on the Quality of Life of Hypertensive Patients in a Tertiary Health Institution in Nigeria: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background/Objective: Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have widespread use and have been shown to be cardio- and reno-protective. However they have a class side effect of dry persistent cough that has been shown to have a significant impact on the physical, social and psychological health of patients. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of ACE inhibitor-induced cough and to assess its impact on the quality of life of hypertensive patients in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Nigeria. Method. The study was centered at the outpatient cardiology clinic of LUTH. It was a cross sectional descriptive study with the use of interviewer-administered validated structured questionnaires. The Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) was used to assess the effect of the cough on the patients quality of life while the Visual Analogue Scale assessed the severity of the cough. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Research and Ethics committee of LUTH and patients consent sought prior commencement of the study. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and represented as simple percentages and frequencies. Bivariate analysis was carried out using chi square test. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: Out of the 101 patients interviewed, 20 patients had experienced ACE inhibitor-induced cough giving a prevalence of 19.8%. The prevalence of the cough was also found to be higher in females (13.86%, 14 of 20) than in males (5.94%, 6 of 20). An LCQ mean score of 13.895 was obtained which showed an average quality of life of the patients. The cough symptom severity results also showed that 40% ( 8 of 20) of the patients had a mild cough, 35% ( 7 of 20) had a moderate cough and 25% ( 5 of 20) had a severe cough. Conclusion: Dry cough is a relatively common side effect associated with ACE inhibitor therapy. The cough induced had an average impact on quality of life and was not severe enough to lead to discontinuation of the ACE inhibitor therapy in most patients.