P12 The Usefulness Of Heartburn As A Marker Of The Success Of Acid Suppression Therapy In Chronic Cough

Background A recent retrospective analysis of randomised controlled trials has suggested that patients with chronic cough reporting heartburn are more likely to benefit from acid suppressive treatment than those without heartburn.1 Therefore we set out to investigate the response rate to acid suppression treatment (PPI and or H2 antagonists) in patients attending our specialist cough clinic. Objective To determine the relationship between reported responses to acid suppression treatment and the presence or absence of heartburn. Methods We performed a retrospective review of 59 consecutive new referrals to the clinic. The presence or absence of heartburn is collected routinely in our standard clinic proforma. Patients who were treated with acid suppression either at our clinic or previously at another centre were included, together with their reported response to treatment. A Fisher’s exact test was used to assess whether those with heartburn were more likely to report a response of their cough to acid suppression treatment than those without heartburn.