Voice- and health-related quality of life in the elderly.
OBJECTIVE
Restrictions of verbal communication and high prevalence of voice disorders in the elderly are suspected to influence the quality of life. For assessment, both voice-specific and unspecific methods are already established and fundamental components of clinical diagnostics, but the question of correlation between voice-related and general health-related quality of life is still open in this subpopulation.


METHODS
One hundred and seven socially active persons aged 65+ years were recruited and asked to complete Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) and Short Form (SF)-36 questionnaires.


RESULTS
There was a mild correlation between V-RQOL score and both of the SF-36 subscores (r(s)=0.28 for the physical subscore and r(s)=0.27 for the mental subscore).


CONCLUSIONS
As correlation of voice- and health-related quality of life in elderly persons is only mild, both voice-specific and unspecific assessment methods are required for clinical diagnostics.
Plank
Christoph
C
Department of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Schneider
Sophie
S
Eysholdt
Ulrich
U
Schützenberger
Anne
A
Rosanowski
Frank
F
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014833:Voice Quality