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Last Updated: Nov 5, 2026
Practice Management Tips
Leicester Cough Questionnaire
Free PDF 4 pages, print-ready Clinician-reviewed
The Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) is a 19-item patient-reported outcome measure that scores how chronic cough affects physical, psychological and social quality of life. Patients rate each item from 1 to 7 for the past two weeks. Each domain score is the average of its items, and the three domains add up to a total from 3 to 21. Higher means better, and a change of 1.3 points is the smallest that patients notice. Birring and colleagues developed the questionnaire, and it is copyrighted by its authors.
Template details
- Template type
- Questionnaire
- Format
- Printable PDF, 4 pages
- Sections
- 1 section
- Fields to complete
- 27 fields
- Best for
- Practice Management Tips
Free download
Download your free Leicester Cough Questionnaire
A ready-to-use PDF with the 19 cough impact items, the 7-point response scale and a results table for the three domains and total. The LCQ is copyrighted by Birring et al. (Thorax, 2003), so confirm the license terms before you use it.
What’s inside
- Patient details for name, age, gender and date of completion
- 19 questions on how cough affected the patient over the past two weeks
- Seven response options under every question, from all the time to none
- Physical questions on chest pain, sputum, tiredness, sleep and a hoarse voice
- Feelings and social questions on anxiety, frustration, embarrassment and conversation
- A results table for physical, psychological, social and total scores
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Key takeaways
The Leicester Cough Questionnaire scores cough-related quality of life across physical, psychological and social domains.
Each domain score is the average of its items, so the three domains add up to a total from 3 to 21.
A change of 1.3 points in the total is the smallest change patients with chronic cough notice.
The LCQ is copyrighted by its authors, so confirm the license terms before you use it.
Pabau, the practice management platform we build, can send the questionnaire as a digital form before each review.
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What is the Leicester Cough Questionnaire?
The Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) is a validated patient-reported outcome measure for chronic cough. It captures how a patient’s cough affects daily life across physical, psychological and social domains.
Birring and colleagues at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester developed it and published it in Thorax in 2003. They cut 44 candidate items down to the 19 that patients rated most important.
Because the patient completes it, the LCQ records the burden that a chest exam can’t show. Pair it with a structured respiratory assessment so symptom burden and clinical findings sit side by side.
How to use the PDF form
Use the PDF as a standard intake or review form. Follow these steps to keep scoring consistent across patients and visits.
- Ask the patient to complete all 19 items without skipping any, since missing items affect the domain scores.
- Check that each item has one response on the 7-point scale before the patient leaves the room.
- Record the three domain scores and the total in the results table on the last page.
- Repeat the questionnaire at each review using the same version, so the scores stay comparable.
Some practices send the form ahead of time through digital intake forms, so patients arrive with their answers already recorded.
Questions and domains
The questionnaire has 19 items, grouped into three domains. Each item asks about the impact of cough over the past two weeks, and patients answer on a 7-point scale.
The response options run from all the time to none of the time. Higher scores always mean less impact, so a 7 is the best answer on every item.
How to score the Leicester Cough Questionnaire
Scores run from 3 to 21, and a higher score means better quality of life. Scoring takes three steps.
- Calculate each domain score as the mean of its item scores (each domain runs 1–7).
- Add the three domain scores to get the overall total of 3–21.
- Compare the total with the patient’s previous score, not with a population norm.
Averaging stops the physical domain, which holds the most items, from swamping the social one. The diagram below shows the arithmetic and the change size that counts as meaningful.
The PDF carries a blank results table but no scoring instructions. Keep the published method above, because altering item wording or response options changes what the score means.
Interpreting scores in clinical practice
A single score tells you little on its own. Change over time guides decisions, and the minimal important difference separates noise from a shift the patient feels.
For chronic cough, Raj and colleagues put that difference at 1.3 points on the total. The domain thresholds differ: 0.2 for physical, 0.8 for psychological and 0.2 for social.
- Record the baseline score before treatment starts.
- Repeat the questionnaire at each review using the same version.
- Look at the domain scores as well as the total, since a stable total can hide a worsening domain.
Clinical conditions where the LCQ is used
The instrument was developed for chronic cough, and it has been studied in several respiratory populations. These are the ones most often reported in the literature.
- Chronic cough of any cause, the core population for the instrument.
- Non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, where validation work has been published.
- Other chronic respiratory conditions where cough is a dominant symptom.
Only use the questionnaire in populations where a published study supports its validity, and note the population in the patient record.
Validation and psychometric properties
The development study tested the LCQ in chronic cough outpatients. Internal reliability ranged from 0.79 to 0.89, and two-week repeatability was high, with domain coefficients of 0.88 to 0.96.
The European Respiratory Journal bronchiectasis validation study followed 120 patients. Median scores rose from 11.3 to 17.8 after two weeks of antibiotics, and stable scores held over six months.
Copyright and permission to use the questionnaire
The LCQ is a copyrighted instrument, and its authors, Birring and colleagues, hold the copyright. The questionnaire in this PDF is reproduced with attribution to their 2003 Thorax paper.
Pabau does not grant a license to use it. Before you use the LCQ in your practice, a service evaluation or a study, confirm the license terms with the authors.
How Pabau keeps LCQ scores on the patient record
On paper, the form is handed out at the desk, scored by hand and filed. Comparing this review with the last one then means digging out two sheets.
Pabau sends the questionnaire as a digital form before the appointment instead. The answers land in the patient record, so the baseline and every follow-up score sit in one timeline.
- Send the form before the first appointment, so the baseline is in place before treatment starts.
- Keep scores on the patient record so each review shows the trend.
- Use Pabau’s reporting to review outcomes across a caseload.
See outcome forms fit your practice workflow
Book a demo to see how Pabau sends questionnaires before each visit and keeps every score on the patient record.
Conclusion
The LCQ earns its place when you use it the same way every time. Take a baseline before treatment, repeat it at each review, and judge change against 1.3 points, not against other patients.
Watch the domains too. A patient whose total holds steady may still be slipping psychologically, and that shift needs only 0.8 points to matter.
Check the license terms with the authors before the form goes into routine use. Book a demo to see how Pabau sends the LCQ before each review and keeps every score on the patient record.
Continue your research
Want the bigger picture on patient-reported outcomes? Patient-reported outcome measures explains how PROMs fit into routine reviews.
Need an objective record to pair with the LCQ? Respiratory assessment template covers the breath sounds, rate and saturation findings to file alongside it.
Assessing the chest at the bedside? Nursing lung assessment walks through inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation.
Caring for patients with COPD? COPD nursing care plan sets out goals and interventions for chronic airway disease.
Tracking inhalers and controllers? Asthma medication list keeps each patient’s respiratory medicines in one record.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Leicester Cough Questionnaire?
The Leicester Cough Questionnaire is a 19-item patient-reported outcome measure for chronic cough. It records how cough affects physical, psychological and social quality of life.
How do you score the LCQ?
Average the item scores within each domain to get three domain scores of 1–7, then add the three for an overall score of 3–21. Higher means better quality of life.
Has the LCQ been validated?
Yes. It was validated in chronic cough in 2003 and in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis in 2009. Check that a published study supports the population you plan to use it with.
Who owns the copyright to the LCQ?
Its authors do. Birring and colleagues developed the questionnaire and published it in Thorax in 2003. Confirm the license terms with them before you use it in a practice or a study.
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