The prevalence of patients who mistakenly referred to upper respiratory tract secretions as sputum.

BACKGROUND

Patients sometimes misidentify upper respiratory tract secretions or saliva as "sputum." The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of such misidentification and its clinical associations.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study of adults with cough and/or sputum symptoms, examining how often patients referred to upper respiratory tract secretions or saliva as "sputum," and explored related clinical features.

RESULTS

Of 72 patients with sputum symptoms, 32% and 13% referred to upper respiratory tract secretions and saliva, respectively, as "sputum." Patients who misidentified upper respiratory secretions more often reported post-nasal drip (41.2% vs. 6.1%) and rhinitis (64.7% vs. 26.5%) than those who did not, which remained significant after adjustment for covariates (p < 0.05). Saliva misidentification was more common in older patients (p = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

32% of the patients with sputum production referred to upper respiratory tract secretions as "sputum," highlighting a potential source of miscommunication in clinical practice.