Prevalence of Perceived Dysphonia and Its Correlation With the Prevalence of Clinically Diagnosed Laryngeal Disorders

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the prevalence of perceived dysphonia and its correlation with the prevalence of clinically diagnosed laryngeal disorders. Methods: Subjects were 8713 non-institutionalized civilian adults over the age of 19 (3810 men and 4912 women) who completed the laryngeal examination of the fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A Poisson regression was used to examine the association between perceived dysphonia and laryngeal disorders. Results: Adjusting for covariates (age, sex, education level, income, occupation, alcohol drinking, and self-reported health status), those with perceived voice problems were 4.8 times (OR = 4.75, 95% CI, 3.77-5.99) more likely to have laryngeal disorders than those without voice problems. In particular, the vocal fold pathology correlated with perceived dysphonia was: vocal fold nodules (OR = 5.32, 95% CI, 3.43-8.26), vocal polyps (OR = 3.73, 95% CI, 1.57-8.86), vocal cysts (OR = 11.97, 95% CI, 1.97-72.72), Reinke’s edema (OR = 9.27, 95% CI, 4.77-18.00), laryngeal paralysis (OR = 3.58, 95% CI, 1.56-8.26), laryngeal granulomas (OR = 4.31, 95% CI, 1.01-18.80), epiglottic cyst (OR = 2.94, 95% CI, 1.21-7.13), and laryngitis (OR = 4.07, 95% CI, 2.91-5.69). Conclusion: People with self-perceived dysphonia had a high risk of laryngeal disorders.