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. 2025 Jul 20;203(1):81.
doi: 10.1007/s00408-025-00836-0.

ICD-10 Diagnostic Coding Patterns and Clinical Correlates in Refractory Chronic Cough: Analysis from the Korean Chronic Cough Registry

Collaborators, Affiliations

ICD-10 Diagnostic Coding Patterns and Clinical Correlates in Refractory Chronic Cough: Analysis from the Korean Chronic Cough Registry

Min-Hye Shin et al. Lung. .

Abstract

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) system plays a key role in health data classification but currently lacks a specific code for refractory chronic cough (RCC). This study analyzed ICD-10 coding patterns among 331 RCC patients enrolled in the Korean Chronic Cough Registry. Each patient had a median of 3 [IQR: 2-4] ICD-10 codes at their most recent outpatient visit. The most frequently assigned primary code was R05 (Cough), recorded in 80.4% of cases. Patients with R05 as their primary code tended to have fewer identifiable etiologies but reported more cough hypersensitivity symptoms. Additionally, the number of ICD-10 codes correlated with both cough severity and cough-specific quality-of-life impairment. In a pooled analysis including RCC and non-RCC cases, the R05 code showed high specificity (80.5%) but low sensitivity (25.8%) for RCC. These findings support the need for a dedicated ICD code to accurately capture RCC in clinical and epidemiological contexts.

Keywords: Cough reflex hypersensitivity; Disease classification; ICD-10 coding; Refractory chronic cough.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: AHM has received consulting fees from Bayer, Bellus, GSK, Merck, NeRRe, Shionogi, and Trevi; lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, and Chiesi; and grant support from Bayer, Bellus, GSK, Merck, Nocion, Philips, NeRRe, Shionogi, and Trevi. He is a founder and CEO of Tussogenics Ltd. WJS declares grants from Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Daewoong Pharmaceutical, and AstraZeneca, consulting fees from Merck, Bellus, AstraZeneca, Shionogi, and GSK, and lecture fees from Thermo Fischer/Immunotek, Celltrion, Merck, AstraZeneca, GSK, Sanofi, and Novartis. Other authors have none to declare.

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