[en] Purpose. To describe the gender, age, occupational status and diagnosis of dysphonic patients.
Method. We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 1079 patients examined at the Voice clinic of the University hospital of Liège in French-speaking Belgium.
Results. Overall, seven out of 10 patients who attended the voice clinic for dysphonia were females. The patients’ ages ranged from 4 to 93 (mean=43.5). Females predominantly consulted at the age of 54 and males at the age of 9. Regarding the occupational status, workers represented more than half of our patients (53%), while 11.2% were unemployed, 15.4% were students, and 19.9% were retired. Regarding the diagnoses of the 1079 patients, nodules were the most common pathologies (n=182, 16.9% of the patients), prevailing in females (n=142, 18.8% of the females), encountered in 16.8% of the workers and 42.8% of the students consulting the voice clinic. Following nodules, laryngeal mobility disorders were diagnosed in 16.4% of the patients (n=177), mainly females (n=115), and was the most frequent diagnosis in retirees (n=75, 34.9%). Conclusions. The majority of the patients consulting the voice clinic for dysphonia were adult females, in their workforce, diagnosed with vocal nodules. The identification of the patients’ characteristics and diagnoses is important to develop treatments and prevention of dysphonia, estimate their costs, and allow comparisons across referral centers.
Disciplines :
Otolaryngology
Author, co-author :
Remacle, Angélique ; Université de Liège > Département de Logopédie > Logopédie des troubles de la voix
Petitfils, Cloé
FINCK, Camille ; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège - CHU > Service d'ORL, d'audiophonologie et de chir. cervico-faciale
Morsomme, Dominique ; Université de Liège > Département de Logopédie > Logopédie des troubles de la voix
Language :
English
Title :
Description of patients consulting the voice clinic regarding gender, age, occupational status, and diagnosis
Roy N, Merrill RM, Thibeault S, Parsa RA, Gray SD, Smith EM (2004) Prevalence of voice disorders in teachers and the general population. J Speech Lang Hear Res 47(2):281–293. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2004/023)
Van Houtte E, Van Lierde K, D’Haeseleer E, Claeys S (2010) The prevalence of laryngeal pathology in a treatment-seeking population with dysphonia. Laryngoscope 120(2):306–312. doi:10.1002/lary.20696
Cohen SM, Kim J, Roy N, Asche C, Courey M (2012) Prevalence and causes of dysphonia in a large treatment-seeking population. Laryngoscope 122(2):343–348. doi:10.1002/lary.22426
Kosztyła-Hojna B, Rogowski M, Ruczaj J, Pepiński W, Łobaczuk-Sitnik A (2004) An analysis of occupational dysphonia diagnosed in the north-east of Poland. Int J Occup Med Environ 17(2):273–278
Sułkowski WJ, Kowalska S (2005) Occupational voice disorders: an analysis of diagnoses made and certificates issued in 1999–2004. Int J Occup Med Environ 18(4):341–349
Fortes FSG, Imamura R, Tsuji DH, Sennes LU (2007) Profile of voice professionals seen in a tertiary health center. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol 73(1):27
Herrington-Hall BL, Lee L, Stemple JC, Niemi KR, McHone MM (1988) Description of laryngeal pathologies by age, sex, and occupation in a treatment-seeking sample. J Speech Hear Disord 53(1):57–64. doi:10.1044/jshd.5301.57
Martins RHG, do Amaral HA, Tavares ELM, Martins MG, Gonçalves TM, Dias NH (2015) Voice disorders: etiology and diagnosis. J Voice. doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.09.017
Coyle SM, Weinrich BD, Stemple JC (2001) Shifts in relative prevalence of laryngeal pathology in a treatment-seeking population. J Voice 15(3):424–440. doi:10.1016/S0892-1997(01)00043-1
De Bodt M, Van den Steen L, Mertens F, Raes J, Van Bel L, Heylen L, Pattyn J, Gordts F, van de Heyning P (2015) Characteristics of a dysphonic population referred for voice assessment and/or voice therapy. Folia Phoniatr Logo 67(4):178–186. doi:10.1159/000369339
Bhattacharyya N (2014) The prevalence of voice problems among adults in the United States. Laryngoscope 124(10):2359–2362. doi:10.1002/lary.24740
Dejonckere PH, Bradley P, Clemente P, Cornut G, Crevier-Buchman L, Friedrich G, Van De Heyning P, Remacle M, Woisard V (2001) A basic protocol for functional assessment of voice pathology, especially for investigating the efficacy of (phonosurgical) treatments and evaluating new assessment techniques. Guideline elaborated by the Committee on Phoniatrics of the European Laryngological Society (ELS). Eur Arch Oto-Rhino-Laryngol 258(2):77–82
Jacobson BH, Johnson A, Grywalski C, Silbergleit A, Jacobson G, Benninger MS, Newman CW (1997) The voice handicap index (VHI): development and validation. Am J Speech-Lang Pathol 6(3):66–69
Hirano M (1981) Clinical examination of voice. Springer, New York
Belafsky PC, Postma GN, Koufman JA (2002) Validity and reliability of the reflux symptom index (RSI). J Voice 16(2):274–277
Mendelsohn AH, Remacle M, Courey MS, Gerhard F, Postma GN (2013) The diagnostic role of high-speed vocal fold vibratory imaging. J Voice 27(5):627–631. doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2013.04.011
Dejonckere PH, Kob M (2009) Pathogenesis of vocal fold nodules: new insights from a modelling approach. Folia Phoniatr Logo 61(3):171–179. doi:10.1159/000219952
Gunter HE (2004) Modeling mechanical stresses as a factor in the etiology of benign vocal fold lesions. J Biomech 37(7):1119–1124. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2003.11.007
Karkos PD, McCormick M (2009) The etiology of vocal fold nodules in adults. Curr Opin Otolaryngo 17(6):420–423. doi:10.1097/MOO.0b013e328331a7f8
Anniko M, Bernal-Sprekelsen M, Bonkowsky V, Bradley P, Iurato S (2010) Otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Thibeault SL, Ford CN, Gray SD, Smith ME, Li W, Davis RK (2002) Genotypic and phenotypic expression of vocal fold polyps and Reinke’s edema: a preliminary study. Ann Oto Rhinol Laryngol 111(4):302–309
Titze IR (2000) Principles of voice production, vol 104, 2nd edn. National Center for Voice and Speech, Iowa
Bastian R (1998) Benign vocal fold mucosal disorders. In: Cummings CW, Harker LA, Krause CJ, Richardson MA, Schuller DE (eds) Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, 3rd edn. Mosby, St. Louis, pp 2096–2129
Altman KW (2007) Vocal fold masses. Otolaryng Clin N Am 40(5):1091–1108
Selleck AM, Moore JE, Rutt AL, Hu A, Sataloff RT (2015) Sulcus vocalis (type III): prevalence and strobovideolaryngoscopy characteristics. J Voice 29(4):507–511. doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2014.09.015
Belafsky PC, Postma GN, Koufman JA (2001) The validity and reliability of the reflux finding score (RFS). Laryngoscope 111(8):1313–1317. doi:10.1097/00005537-200108000-00001
Martins R, Gonçalves T, Pessin A, Branco A (2014) Aging voice: presbyphonia. Aging Clin Exp Res 26:1–5
Fritzell B (1996) Voice disorders and occupations. Logop Phoniatr Voco 21(1):7–12. doi:10.3109/14015439609099197
Butler JE, Hammond TH, Gray SD (2001) Gender-related differences of hyaluronic acid distribution in the human vocal fold. Laryngoscope 111(5):907–911. doi:10.1097/00005537-200105000-00029
Hunter EJ, Tanner K, Smith ME (2011) Gender differences affecting vocal health of women in vocally demanding careers. Logop Phoniatr Voco 36(3):128–136. doi:10.3109/14015439.2011.587447
Zhukhovitskaya A, Battaglia D, Khosla SM, Murry T, Sulica L (2015) Gender and age in benign vocal fold lesions. Laryngoscope 125(1):191–196. doi:10.1002/lary.24911
Hirano M, Kurita S, Matsuo K (1980) Nagata K (1980) Laryngeal tissue reaction to stress. In: Lawrence V (ed) 9th symposium on care of the professional voice. The Voice Foundation, New York, pp 10–20
Linville SE (1992) Glottal gap configurations in two age groups of women. J Speech Hear Res 35(6):1209–1215
Estes C, Sulica L (2014) Vocal fold pseudocyst: results of 46 cases undergoing a uniform treatment algorithm. Laryngoscope 124(5):1180–1186. doi:10.1002/lary.24451
Cantarella G, Dejonckere P, Galli A, Ciabatta A, Gaffuri M, Pignataro L, Torretta S (2016) A retrospective evaluation of the etiology of unilateral vocal fold paralysis over the last 25 years. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. doi:10.1007/s00405-016-4225-9
Reiners C, Wegscheider K, Schicha H, Theissen P, Vaupel R, Wrbitzky R, Schumm-Draeger P-M (2004) Prevalence of thyroid disorders in the working population of Germany: ultrasonography screening in 96,278 unselected employees. Thyroid 14(11):926–932
Koufman JA, Amin MR, Panetti M (2000) Prevalence of reflux in 113 consecutive patients with laryngeal and voice disorders. Otolaryngol Head Neck 123(4):385–388. doi:10.1067/mhn.2000.109935