title: The risk factors of laryngeal pathology in Korean adults using a decision tree model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors affecting laryngeal pathology in the Korean population and to evaluate the derived prediction model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were drawn from the 2008 Korea National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. The subjects were 3135 persons (1508 male and 2114 female) aged 19 years and older living in the community. The independent variables were age, sex, occupation, smoking, alcohol drinking, and self-reported voice problems. A decision tree analysis was done to identify risk factors for predicting a model of laryngeal pathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The significant risk factors of laryngeal pathology were age, gender, occupation, smoking, and self-reported voice problem in decision tree model. Four significant paths were identified in the decision tree model for the prediction of laryngeal pathology. Those identified as high risk groups for laryngeal pathology included those who self-reported a voice problem, those who were males in their 50s who did not recognize a voice problem, those who were not economically active males in their 40s, and male workers aged 19 and over and under 50 or 60 and over who currently smoked.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study suggest that individual risk factors, such as age, sex, occupation, health behavior, and self-reported voice problem, affect the onset of laryngeal pathology in a complex manner. Based on the results of this study, early management of the high-risk groups is needed for the prevention of laryngeal pathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech Language Pathology & Audiology, Nambu University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea; Speech-Language Pathology Center, Nambu University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: byeon@nambu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Haewon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Byeon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003663:Decision Trees; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007818:Laryngeal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Decision tree; Dysphonia; Laryngeal pathology; Risk factor; Voice disorder