The study of cases of hoarseness of voice of north India region

Abstract

In Medical Science, Hoarseness is the term used to describe a change in normal quality of voice of a patient which is rough or harsh, lower in pitch and more or less discordant Depends on duration of illness, hoarseness can be divided into acute or chronic condition. The acute onset is more common and mainly caused by inflammation (acute laryngitis) chronic sinusitis acid reflux disease, excessive alcohol use, smoking and over use or misuse of voice whereas other cause may be, laryngeal trauma or thyroid surgery and systemic disease The aim of our study is to analyse clinical profile, assess different etiological factors and to find out common precipitating factors leading to hoarseness of voice.A total of 34500 patients visited OPD of Otolaryngology department from June 2017 to May2019. Out of these,253 cases presented with complaint of change in voice (Hoarseness). The incidence of hoarseness among total OPD patient was 0.73%. Among 253 cases ,165 (65.21%) were male and 88 (34.78%) were female. Male predominance was observed with Male: female ratio of 1.87:1 in this study. Majority of patients (22.13%) were reported in 51-60 years age group followed by 31-40 years age group (21.73%). Largest group of patients were housewives (19.76%), then farmer (19.36%%) and labour (18.57%). Rest was teacher (13.43%), singer (5.92%) politician (5.13%), policeman (1.97%) and sportsman (0.79%).Many predisposing factors were noted like tobacco chewing, smoking, alcohol drinking. Tobacco chewing (38.33%), smoking (33.99%) and alcohol consumption (15.81%) were most common predisposing factors in descending order. Functional disorder was reported in (5.13%) cases and vocal abuse in 2.37% cases. In present study most of the patients were referred for speech therapy and psychotherapy along with vocal conservation and maintenance of vocal hygiene.