Prevalence of voice disorders in African American and European American preschoolers.
Several studies have reported prevalence rates for voice disorders in school-aged children. Less is known, however, about such prevalence in preschoolers, and whether racial, ethnic, or cultural diversity may influence it. The presence of voice disorders in a total of 2445 African-American and European-American preschool children, 1246 males and 1199 females, from 2 to 6 years of age is reported here. Presence of a voice disorder characterized by hoarseness was identified by a three-prong approach including teacher identification, investigator screening, and parent identification. Speech-language pathologists listened individually to each child's speech as they engaged each child in play-conversation activities. A voice disorder was identified on the basis of the judgment of two speech-language pathologists. Voice disorders characterized by hoarseness were identified in 95 children or 3.9% of the total sample by the investigators. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences for age, gender, or race.
Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois 61820, USA. macollns@uiuc.edu
Melissa C
MC
Duff
Adele
A
Proctor
Ehud
E
Yairi
D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*