Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life: Findings in Healthy Children and in Common Laryngeal Disorders

Abstract

Although several instruments have been validated to assess voice quality, the incidence and degree of impairment in normal, healthy children has not been widely reported. It is hypothesized that healthy children outside a medical setting do not demonstrate impairment as measured by the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life (PVRQOL) instrument; in contrast, patients with vocal fold paralysis (VFP), vocal nodules (VNs), and paradoxical vocal fold dysfunction (PVFD) have significant impairment as compared to control populations. The PVRQOL was measured prospectively in children with VFP, VNs, and PVFD. The findings were compared to findings in 100 children surveyed at the 2006 Wisconsin State Fair. Of the 100 surveys of healthy children and their parents, 95 were completed correctly; their mean (+/- SD) PVRQOL score was 96.8 +/- 5.85. The VFP patients (n = 11; mean PVRQOL score, 70.5 +/- 28.6) reported significant impairment (p < .0001, unpaired t-test). This was also true of patients with VNs (n = 13; PVRQOL score, 84.8 +/- 9.4; p < .0001) and PVFD (n = 25; PVRQOL score, 86.7 +/- 14.3; p < .0001); statistically significant differences were also noted for the Social-Emotional and Physical-Functional domains for each of the 3 disease states compared to the group of healthy children (p < .001). The PVRQOL scores of healthy children reveal essentially no self-reported vocal impairment. In contrast, common disorders such as VNs, VFP, and PVFD demonstrate statistically significant impairment in age-matched children for total PVRQOL, as well as for the Social-Emotional and Physical-Functional domains. This is the first report of normative PVRQOL data in children.