Prevalence and causes of dysphonia in a large treatment‐seeking population

Abstract

This analysis of insurance claims data from a nationally representative database represents the largest study of its kind. Important differences in dysphonia prevalence related to age, sex, diagnosis, and physician type were identified.

Description of patients consulting the voice clinic regarding gender, age, occupational status, and diagnosis

“…Several methods have been used for estimating the prevalence of voice problems, including estimations at the household level, based on questionnaires or telephone surveys [1], and at the healthcare provider service level [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. At the healthcare provider service level, various studies have attempted to identify the gender, age, diagnosis, occupational status and/or profession of patients who seek help for a voice disorder [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…At the healthcare provider service level, various studies have attempted to identify the gender, age, diagnosis, occupational status and/or profession of patients who seek help for a voice disorder [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…Fifteen years later, Coyle, Weinrich and Stemple repeated the study with 1158 dysphonic patients treated at the same otolaryngology practices in the same geographic region [9] and compared their findings to those of Herrington-Hall et al [7]. From an American insurance claims database, Cohen et al made a retrospective analysis of 536943 patients diagnosed with dysphonia by primary care physicians and otolaryngologists, taking into account the age and gender [3]. They presented a breakdown of patients according to employment status, but did not address the relationships between employment status and diagnosis, gender, and age.…”

“…Overall, a higher prevalence of dysphonia is seen in women [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] as well as in the working, active, adult population [2,3,8,10]. Among workers, occupational voice users are particularly at risk [2,4,5].…”

“…Among workers, occupational voice users are particularly at risk [2,4,5]. The most frequently reported diagnoses were functional voice disorders, vocal fold nodules, and laryngitis [2][3][4][5]10,11].…”