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

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Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Health
Department Communication Sciences & Disorders
Creator Roy, Nelson
Other Author Cohen, Seth. M.; Kim, Jaewhan; Asche, Carl; Courey, Mark
Title Prevalence and causes of dysphonia in a large treatment-seeking population
Date 2012-01-01
Description Objective: To determine the prevalence and common causes of dysphonia as diagnosed by primary care physicians (PCPs) and otolaryngologists, and to evaluate differences in etiologies offered by these providers. Study Design: Retrospective analysis of data from a large, nationally representative administrative U.S. claims database. Methods: Patients were identified as dysphonic based on ICD-9-CM codes from January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2008. Data regarding age, gender, geographic location, and type of physician providing the dysphonia diagnosis were collected. Overall and age-related prevalence rates, as well as frequency of specific etiologies by provider type were calculated. Results: Of the almost 55 million individuals in the database, 536,943 patients, ages 0 to > 65 years, were given a dysphonia diagnosis (point prevalence rate of 0.98%). The prevalence rate was higher among females as compared to males (1.2% versus 0.7%) and among those > 70 years of age (2.5%). The most frequent diagnoses overall were acute laryngitis, non-specific dysphonia, benign vocal fold lesions, and chronic laryngitis. PCPs more commonly diagnosed acute laryngitis, whereas otolaryngologists more commonly diagnosed non-specific dysphonia and laryngeal pathology. Gastro-esophageal reflux was more commonly diagnosed as a comorbid condition by otolaryngologists than by PCPs. Overall laryngeal cancer prevalence in this treatment-seeking population was 2.2% and was greatest among males > 70 years of age. Conclusion: 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, gender, diagnosis, and physician type were identified. Word count: 248, Evidence level: level 2b. Introduction: The public health impact of vocal dysfunction is becoming increasingly recognized. Dysphonia adversely impacts communication with physical, social, and workrelated effects. Patients suffer social isolation, depression, impaired disease-specific and general quality of life, and work absenteeism.1-4 Thus, voice disorders negatively impact individuals and burden society.
Type Text
Publisher Wiley-Blackwell
Volume 122
Issue 2
First Page 343
Last Page 348
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Cohen, S. M., Kim, J., Roy, N., Asche, C., & Courey, M. (2012). Prevalence and causes of dysphonia in a large treatment-seeking population. Laryngoscope, 122(2), 343-8.
Rights Management (c) Wiley-Blackwell ; This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Cohen, S. M., Kim, J., Roy, N., Asche, C., & Courey, M. (2012). Prevalence and causes of dysphonia in a large treatment-seeking population, Laryngoscope, 122(2), 343-8, which has been published in final form and the definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com. DOI: 10.1002/lary.22426
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 267,815 bytes
Identifier uspace,17144
ARK ark:/87278/s65x2trx
Setname ir_uspace
ID 708801
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s65x2trx
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