title: Voice- and health-related quality of life in the elderly.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plank
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Eysholdt
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schützenberger
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rosanowski
mesh_terms: 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