title: Prevalence and causes of dysphonia in a large treatment-seeking population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence and common causes of dysphonia as diagnosed by primary care physicians (PCPs) and otolaryngologists and to evaluate differences in etiologies offered by these providers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of data from a large, nationally representative administrative U.S. claims database.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were identified as dysphonic based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2008. Data regarding age, sex, geographic location, and type of physician providing the dysphonia diagnosis were collected. Overall and age-related prevalence rates, as well as frequency of specific etiologies by provider type, were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the almost 55 million individuals in the database, 536,943 patients (ages 0 to >65 years) were given a dysphonia diagnosis (point prevalence rate of 0.98%). The prevalence rate was higher among females as compared to males (1.2% vs. 0.7%) and among those >70 years of age (2.5%). The most frequent diagnoses overall were acute laryngitis, nonspecific dysphonia, benign vocal fold lesions, and chronic laryngitis. PCPs more commonly diagnosed acute laryngitis, whereas otolaryngologists more commonly diagnosed nonspecific dysphonia and laryngeal pathology. Gastroesophageal reflux was more commonly diagnosed as a comorbid condition by otolaryngologists than by PCPs. Overall laryngeal cancer prevalence in this treatment-seeking population was 2.2% and was greatest among males >70 years of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This analysis of insurance claims data from a nationally representative database represents the largest study of its kind. Important differences in dysphonia prevalence related to age, sex, diagnosis, and physician type were identified.
authors.affiliation: Duke Voice Care Center, Division of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA. seth.cohen@duke.edu
authors.forename: Seth M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Jaewhan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Asche
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Courey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005764:Gastroesophageal Reflux / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult