Publication:

A descriptive study of aetiopathological evaluation of hoarseness: our experience

Background Hoarseness is a quality of voice that is rough, grating, harsh, more or less discordant and lower than normal in pitch for the individual. Besides affecting useful communication leading to tremendous alterations in daily living, voice problem may also signify the presence of more serious medical illnesses; such as malignancy or airway compromise. Hence this study is undertaken to determine the relative incidence of cases presented at a tertiary hospital, to analyse the hoarseness population based on age, sex, occupation etc, to find out the pathogenesis of hoarseness in the cases and to postulate the risk factors implicated in each.

Methods Descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on patients with hoarseness reported at Government Medical College, Trivandrum for a period of twelve months. Detailed history regarding duration, onset, nature of hoarseness, aggravating and relieving factors, voice fatiguability, diurnal variation, associated symptoms and history of upper respiratory infection were taken.

Results Being the tertiary hospital, the incidence was noted to be 0.7%. Majority of patients are in 4th to 7th decades and the most commonly affected age group was 50-59 years. Male preponderance with 4:1 ratio was observed in which manual labourers constitute the single largest group. Smoking, alcohol intake and vocal abuse are found to be the major etiological factors. Majority of lesions were malignant in nature, commonest being Carcinoma Glottis. In benign lesions, majority was vocal cord polyp.

Conclusions Early detection of pathology and awareness is very important in the management of hoarseness.