ENT Department, King Fahad Hospital of the University, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Dammam 34212, Saudi Arabia.
College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Dammam 34212, Saudi Arabia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 30;19(9):5468. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095468.
Hoarseness in school-aged children may affect their educational achievement and interfere with their communication and social skills development. The global prevalence of hoarseness in school-aged children ranges between 6% and 23%. To the best of our knowledge, there is a scarcity of studies describing the prevalence or determinates of hoarseness in Saudi school-aged children. Our aim was to measure the prevalence of hoarseness among school-aged children and to identify its determinants. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was used that included randomly selected primary and early childhood schools from private and governmental sectors in Saudi Arabia. The data were collected using a questionnaire which was self-completed by the children's parents and covered the following aspects: sociodemographic features, health and its related comorbidities about children and their families, attendance and performance in school, child's voice tone, past history of frequent crying during infancy, history of letter pronunciation problems and stuttering, the Reflux Symptom Index (RSI) and the Children's Voice Handicap Index-10 for parents (CVHI-10-P). Determinants of hoarseness were investigated using the SPSS software (version 20). The mean age of the study children ( = 428) was 9.05 years (SD = 2.15), and 69.40% of them were male. The rate of hoarseness in the participants was 7.5%. Hoarseness was significantly common in children with a history of excessive infancy crying ( = 0.006), letter pronunciation issues (especially 'R' and 'S'; = 0.003), and stuttering ( = 0.004) and in those with a previous history of hoarseness ( = 0.023). In addition, having the symptoms of gastrointestinal reflux increased the risk of hoarseness by four times (OR = 4.77, 95% CI = 2.171, 10.51). In summary, hoarseness in children may be dangerously underestimated, as it may reflect the presence of speech problems, in addition to the presence of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). Hoarseness was assumed on the basis of parental complaints. Therefore, further research with diagnoses based on a clinical assessment is needed to understand the magnitude of the hoarseness problem and its consequences in children.
儿童声音嘶哑可能会影响他们的学业成绩，并干扰他们的沟通和社交技能发展。全球学龄儿童声音嘶哑的患病率在 6%至 23%之间。据我们所知，目前还很少有研究描述沙特学龄儿童声音嘶哑的患病率或决定因素。我们的目的是测量学龄儿童声音嘶哑的患病率，并确定其决定因素。本研究采用了横断面问卷调查，包括来自沙特阿拉伯私营和政府部门的随机选择的小学和幼儿学校。数据是通过儿童家长自行填写的问卷收集的，内容包括：社会人口学特征、儿童及其家庭的健康及其相关合并症、在校出勤率和表现、儿童的声音音调、婴儿期频繁哭泣的既往史、发音问题和口吃的既往史、反流症状指数（RSI）和父母的儿童嗓音障碍指数-10（CVHI-10-P）。使用 SPSS 软件（版本 20）调查声音嘶哑的决定因素。研究儿童的平均年龄（n=428）为 9.05 岁（SD=2.15），其中 69.40%为男性。参与者中声音嘶哑的发生率为 7.5%。有婴儿期过度哭泣史（ = 0.006）、发音问题（特别是 'R' 和 'S'； = 0.003）、口吃史（ = 0.004）和既往声音嘶哑史（ = 0.023）的儿童声音嘶哑明显更为常见。此外，有胃肠道反流症状的儿童声音嘶哑的风险增加了四倍（OR=4.77，95%CI=2.171，10.51）。总之，儿童声音嘶哑可能被严重低估，因为它可能反映出存在言语问题，以及存在喉咽反流（LPR）。声音嘶哑是根据家长的抱怨来假设的。因此，需要进一步开展基于临床评估的诊断研究，以了解儿童声音嘶哑问题的严重程度及其后果。
