Voice disorders in the general Greek population and in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux. Prevalence and risk factors.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the prevalence of voice disorders in the general Greek population and in patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) with the use of the reflux symptom index (RSI).

STUDY DESIGN

Prospective epidemiological adult participant survey.

SETTING

General Greek population.

METHOD

The validated Greek version of the RSI was used to assess the prevalence of voice disorders in the general Greek population, as well as in patients with LPR, which were diagnosed using the RSI. The RSI questionnaire was completed by 340 (183 males and 157 females) randomly selected subjects. Subjects with RSI score of >13 were considered to be LPR patients.

RESULTS

The prevalence of voice disorders, which was determined by the participants giving a positive response to the field "hoarseness or a problem with your voice," was found to be 38.5% in the general Greek population. In patients with LPR, "hoarseness or a problem with your voice" was present in 90.6%. The number of cigarettes smoked daily and the number of alcoholic drinks consumed daily, each correlated with the presence of voice disorders. No relationship was revealed between voice disorders and coexisting diseases and especially with gastroesophageal reflux disease, which was the most frequent reported disorder among peptic diseases.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of voice disorders, determined by a positive response to the question "hoarseness or a problem with your voice," is high (38.5%) in the general population and very high (90.6%) in patients with LPR. The number of tobacco cigarettes smoked daily and the number of alcoholic drinks consumed daily were found to be related to voice disorders.