Etiological Factors of Hoarseness in Patients Attending Basrah General Hospital

Abstract

Background: Hoarseness is a common symptom in otolaryngology practice, and it’s the earliest manifestation of a large variety of conditions directly or indirectly affecting the larynx, ranging from benign to most malignant. Aim: This study was undertaken to find out a clinical profile, the incidence of common predisposing and etiological factors of hoarseness. Methods: Two hundred cases of hoarseness for 18 months were studied. All cases were analyzed for detailed history and examination with visualization of the larynx through rigid video laryngoscopy or flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy and in some cases, direct laryngoscopy and biopsy were taken for histopathological study. The final results were analyzed by simple manual analysis with frequency and percentage using Microsoft Excel Software 2007. Results: A total of 200 patients were included in the study. Among them, patients in the age groups of 31–40 years and 41–50 years were the main sufferers of hoarseness. Similarly, among 200 patients 124 (62%) were males whereas 76 (38%) were females, with the male to female ratio of 1.6:1. Vocal cord nodules were the most commonly encountered etiology with a frequency of 17.5 % whereas tuberculous laryngitis was the least commonly encountered etiology with a frequency of 0.5%. Conclusions: There was an etiological variation in hoarseness ranging from simple laryngitis to the most life-threatening malignancies. It is important not to ignore the hoarseness and precise history, examination and investigations should be done to diagnose the early underlying pathological changes for prevention and accurate management.