Summary
Objectives
Health-related factors are part of the multifactorial background of dysphonia in children.
Respiratory tract infections affect the same systems and structures that are used
for voice production. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the number of
respiratory tract infections or the viral etiology were significant predictors for
a more hoarse voice quality.
Methods
The participants were 4-year-old children who participated in the multidisciplinary
STEPS study (Steps to the Healthy Development and Well-being of Children) where they
were followed up from pregnancy or birth to 4 years of age. Data were collected through
questionnaires and a health diary filled in by the parents. Some of the children were
followed up more intensively for respiratory tract infections during the first 2 years
of life, and nasal swab samples were taken at the onset of respiratory symptoms. Our
participants were 489 of these children who had participated in the follow-up for
at least 1 year and for whom data on respiratory tract infections and data on voice
quality were available.
Results
The number of hospitalizations due to respiratory tract infections was a significant
predictor for a more hoarse voice quality. Neither the number of rhinovirus infections
nor the number of respiratory syncytial virus infections was statistically significant
predictors for a more hoarse voice quality.
Conclusions
Based on our results, we would suggest including questions on the presence of respiratory
tract infections that have led to hospitalization in the pediatric voice anamnesis.
Whether the viral etiology of respiratory tract infections is of importance or not
requires further research.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of VoiceAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- The prevalence of stuttering, voice, and speech-sound disorders in primary school students in Australia.Lang Speech Hear Ser. 2007; 38: 5-15
- A longitudinal study of the prevalence of voice disorders in children from a rural school division.J Commun Disord. 1989; 22: 375-382
- Subjective and objective evaluations of voice quality in patients with asthma.J Voice. 2007; 21: 224-230
- Indoor air problems and hoarseness in children.J Voice. 2016; 30: 109-113
- Vocal symptoms and allergy—a pilot study.J Voice. 2009; 23: 136-139
- Psychobehavioral characteristics of children with vocal nodules: WPBIC ratings.J Speech Hear Res. 1989; 54: 306-312
- Personality and voice disorder: a multitrait–multidisorder analysis.J Voice. 2000; 14: 521-548
- Aetiologic factors associated with hoarseness in ten-year-old children.Folia Phoniatr Logo. 1995; 47: 262-278
- Social environment and incidence of voice disturbances in children.Folia Phoniatr Logo. 1994; 46: 135-138
- Perceptual analysis of child hoarseness using continuous scales.Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 1993; 18: 73-82
- Prevalence of hoarseness in 10-year-old children.Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 1995; 20: 165-173
- The impact of pollution on the voice.Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1992; 106: 701-705
- Shifts in relative prevalence of laryngeal pathology in a treatment-seeking population.J Voice. 2001; 15: 424-440
- Voice disorders in the general population: prevalence, risk factors, and occupational impact.Laryngoscope. 2005; 115: 1988-1995
- Voice disorders: etiology and diagnosis.J Voice. 2016; 30: 761.e1-761.e9
- Dysphonia in children.J Voice. 2012; 26: 674.e17-674.e20
- Description of laryngeal pathologies in children evaluated by otolaryngologists.J Speech Hear Disord. 1990; 55: 526-532
- Pediatric vocal nodules: correlation with perceptual voice analysis.Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2005; 69: 903-909
- Acute upper airway infections.Brit Med Bull. 2002; 61: 215-230
- The common cold.Lancet. 2003; 361: 51-59
- Community surveillance of respiratory viruses among families in the Utah Better Identification of Germs-Longitudinal Viral Epidemiology (BIG-LoVE) Study.Clin Infect Dis. 2015; 61: 1217-1224
- Acute respiratory illness in the community. Frequency of illness and the agents involved.Epidemiol Infect. 1993; 110: 145-160
- Epidemiology of viral respiratory infections.Am J Med. 2002; 112: 4S-12S
- Rhinovirus infections in the first 2 years of life.Pediatrics. 2016; 138: e20161309
- Upper respiratory tract infections in young children: duration of and frequency of complications.Pediatrics. 1991; 87: 129-133
- Childhood upper respiratory tract infections: to what degree is incidence affected by day-care attendance?.Pediatrics. 1987; 79: 55-60
- Upper airway infections in preschool children—frequency and risk factors.Scand J Prim Health. 1993; 11: 197-201
- Form of day care and respiratory infections among Finnish children.Am J Public Health. 1995; 85: 1109-1112
- Child voice and noise: a pilot study of noise in day cares and the effects on 10 children's voice quality according to perceptual evaluation.J Voice. 2009; 23: 587-593
- Neurophysiology of the cough reflex.Eur Respir J. 1995; 8: 1193-1202
- Quality of life and psychosocial aspects of cough.Lung. 2008; 186: S55-S58
- The treatment of cough. A comprehensive review.Chest. 1991; 99: 1477-1484
- Endolaryngeal contact pressures.J Voice. 1998; 12: 50-67
- Vocal fold epithelial barrier in health and injury: a research review.J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2014; 57: 1679-1691
- An update on the pathophysiology of rhinovirus upper respiratory tract infections.Rhinology. 1999; 37: 97-103
- Infection of a human respiratory epithelial cell line with rhinovirus. Induction of cytokine release and modulation of susceptibility to infection by cytokine exposure.J Clin Invest. 1995; 96: 549-557
- Rhinovirus disrupts the barrier function of polarized airway epithelial cells.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2008; 178: 1271-1281
- Rhinovirus and the lower respiratory tract.Rev Med Virol. 2004; 14: 17-31
- Listener's attitudes toward children with voice problems.J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2013; 56: 1409-1415
- Peer perceptions of normal and voice-disordered children.Folia Phoniatr Logo. 1991; 43: 29-35
- Cohort profile: steps to the healthy development and well-being of children (the STEPS study).Int J Epidemiol. 2012; 42: 1273-1284
- The ALSPAC Study Team. The prevalence of childhood dysphonia: a cross-section study.J Voice. 2006; 20: 623-630
- Prevalence of hoarseness in school-aged children.J Voice. 2015; 29: 260.e1-260.e19
- A critical review of visual analogue scales in the measurement of clinical phenomena.Res Nurs Health. 1990; 13: 227-236
- Scaling voice activity limitation and participation restriction in dysphonic individuals.Folia Phoniatr Logo. 2007; 59: 74-82
Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 02, 2018
Accepted:
January 18,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.