Table 3 Descriptive quotes for each burden

Impact on motion and body movement

Driving is scary. If I cough when I’m holding the wheel, I can’t see ahead. I don’t drive much now

It’s a problem when there are people around me such as when I am on the train. People would think I have COVID-19 nowadays, or a cold during the pre-COVID era. In such cases, I would endure it or hold my mouth tightly and try to keep the sound as low as possible

I started to wheeze just by going up the stairs at the station. It’s hard to walk in the station because I feel like I’m walking fast to keep up with the crowd. Going up and down the stairs is a big burden for me

Coughing can cause a loss of concentration, momentary difficulty in breathing, or pain in my lungs

Impact on concentration and behavior

When I stop what I’m doing because of coughing, I get some rest. But I feel like that resets my thinking

Impact on emotion

Asthma makes me feel like I have lost. I’ve lost in life

I am thinking why I got to this stage, it’s annoying, and I’m always worried about going out, and about what I would do if I couldn’t stop coughing again when I’m on a train or plane

Impact on sleeping and Meals

Recently, when I go to bed or wake up in the morning, I have a cough, so I get my inhaler and use it to stop my cough

When I’m in bed and have a cough, I try to move to a place where I can be alone

I get sleepy the next day. When it’s bad, I take a nap the afternoon of the next day

Spicy food. Because it induces (my cough). When I start coughing due to the spiciness, I end up with an asthmatic cough, so I eat less spicy food (nowadays)

Sometimes I choke while I’m eating, and choke when I am drinking, and cough even more. Frankly speaking, I am annoyed when it comes to food

Impact on work and housework

Coughing often interrupts my work

It becomes a nuisance to work. I feel like I don’t want to work anymore

Regarding cars, cough doesn’t generally restrict me on the job, but it does prevent me from working outside of the office. This stopped me from pursuing my career plan

I have left early several times, but I never take an entire day off. I have to leave early because I have a bad cough, or I have to go to the hospital… only by about 30 min to an hour

I’m taking a leave of absence on company orders. When it began, I was suffering from the same difficulty in breathing, my daily activities were limited, and I had trouble conversing

Laundry usually requires vertical motion of the body. Lifting up clothing to dry them. It was so hard that I had to ask someone else to do it

Sometimes I can’t go shopping or cook if it’s too bad

Impact on family, friends, and communications

My boss would sometimes say, ‘You have to get well’ or ‘coughing is annoying for others.’

People often ask, ‘Are you okay?’ but obviously I’m not all right at all

Both my parents and wife know about it (my cough), so it doesn’t affect us much

I feel sorry for making others wait when I physically can’t speak

Impact on hobbies and leisure

I sing in opera, so I’m basically finished if I cough. I usually don’t cough while performing due to nervousness, but I have difficulty controlling my breathing during practice. However, I don’t cough fully. I increase my inhalant beforehand

Impact on economic burden and burden on hospital visit

The medicine is expensive. I take a lot of it. It has become an economic burden

(The hospital) is within walking distance…so, I don’t feel much burden because of having to visit the hospital

Traveling is a burden, as the hospital is far away; it costs more than 1000 yen for each trip, in addition to the medication cost it costs more than 6000–7000 yen per month

Money isn’t a burden for me because I don’t go to doctors that I have to wait for. Time is more of a burden

Symptoms and treatment of cough

A dry cough. It troubles me almost every day

When I start coughing, it’s a cough that makes a rattling sound inside me, unlike a normal cough

I also have hay fever, I don’t know if that’s the reason, but I always sneeze when I cough and feel a little unwell in early spring

At the turn of the season, I feel so sluggish that I just want to sit down

When I get up in the morning. I feel like phlegm is stuck in my throat, which is the worst feeling

I have a long continual cough in the middle of the night or in the morning. During the day, it repeatedly comes and goes

My current medication is fine. I strongly feel the side effects of taking new treatments, so I wonder…

I don’t want to take any medicine if possible. Medicines are not natural, so I feel like they are not good for me

I’ve had times before when I was introduced to new medication or told that I need to change my medication, so I have no hesitation to do so

I would like to try (new medication). If I was asked to be a human guinea pig for a clinical trial, I would