The prevalence of laryngeal pathologies in an academic population

Abstract

Objective: The main purposes of the present study were to determine the prevalence of laryngeal pathology and voice disorders and to identify their associated risk factors among the workers, teachers, and nonteachers, from a Portuguese university.

Study design: Cross-sectional study.

Methodology: A total of 101 participants have volunteered to participate in a voice survey. Data were collected using a questionnaire followed by the diagnosis of laryngeal pathology based on the videolaryngoscopic examination conducted by experienced otolaryngologists.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 43 years. Nearly half of the sample had a diagnosis of pathology, with functional disorders being the most frequent laryngeal pathology. None of the demographic, behavioral, and occupational factors analyzed were statistically associated with laryngeal pathology. Although university teachers do not have an increased risk of laryngeal pathology, self-perceived voice disorders were more prevalent in teachers than in nonteachers. Vocal effort and the number of years teaching have a significant effect on voice disorders prevalence among teachers.

Conclusions: Voice disorders have a higher rate of occurrence among university teachers. Demands of teaching, like vocal effort and years of teaching, and not other demographic and/or behavioral factors, are the risk factors that increase the rate of occurrence of voice disorders among the university teachers. Risk factors that predispose to laryngeal pathology were not detected in the present study. However, the high prevalence of functional laryngeal pathologies underlines the importance of further investigation toward this type of laryngeal pathology in this academic population.

Keywords: Laryngeal pathology; Prevalence; Risk factors; University teachers; Voice disorders.