Geriatric Dysphonia and the most frequent diagnosis

• Autor(a) principal: Serdoura Alves, Clara
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Santos, Mariline, Azevedo, Sara, Casanova, Maria, Lino, João, Meireles, Luís
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.34631/sporl.1051
• topic: Geriatria; Disfonia; Presbifonia; Presbilaringe; Refluxo; Geriatrics; Dysphonia; Presbyphonia; Presbylarynx; Reflux

Introduction: Aging is associated with a decline in voice quality, predisposing older adults to social withdrawal and introversion. It is therefore increasingly important to better understand the magnitude of dysphonia among geriatric patients and what laryngeal alterations are most commonly associated with the symptom. Objective: to determine the prevalence of dysphonia among elderly patients referred from primary care to otorhinolaryngology and evaluate the commonest laryngeal findings underlying this symptom. Methods: patients aged 65 and older referred from Primary Care to the Otorhinolaryngology department of a tertiary center during 2019 and 2020 were enrolled in this retrospective observational study. The exclusion criteria were the absence of videostroboscopy report and/or video recording in the patient ́s file, Results: A total of 1304 patients were included in this study, with oto-neurologic symptoms as the main cause of referral (65%, n= 852), followed by Pharyngolaryngeal symptoms (17%, n=220) and Nasal symptoms (13%, n=167). The most prevalent findings were laryngopharyngeal reflux (44.81%, n=82), Presbylarynx (21.31%, n=39), vocal fold paresis or paralysis (5.46%, n=10), and vocal fold polyp (5.46%, n=10). Conclusions: Geriatric dysphonia remains one of the common but undertreated health problems among the elderly, with this retrospective study cementing dysphonia as one of the main symptomatic complaints among geriatric patients. This enhances the need for a better preparation of otorhinolaryngologists for the evaluation and management of elderly patients presenting with dysphonia, recognizing the impact this symptom has on the day-to-day life of elderly patients.