Abstract
BackgroundAlthough dysphonia is a common symptom in children, there is lack of mass screening studies to cover its prevalence rate in the Egyptian Alexandrian schools. The aim of the work was to screen Alexandrian school-age children for dysphonia in order to determine the prevalence and to detect its possible predisposing factors. The study was carried out on 1913 school children (4th-6th grade), age range of 9-13 years and presenting the seven Alexandrian Educational districts. All patients were screened for the presence of dysphonia. The grade of dysphonia was assessed by a phoniatrician using perceptual auditory evaluation. Determination of possible predisposing factors was done through the application of a questionnaire. Only 317 students responded to the questionnaire.ResultsThere was a significant difference between dysphonic and non-dysphonic as regards gender, and school grade. Having a smoking family member and conducting activities requiring high vocal demands were recorded with the highest percentage among dysphonic children.ConclusionThe Study revealed a prevalence rate of childhood Dysphonia of 12.4%. The presence of chest problems, prolonged loud cry, temperament personality and passive smoking predisposed to dysphonia in primary school students.
Highlights
Dysphonia is a common symptom in children, there is lack of mass screening studies to cover its prevalence rate in the Egyptian Alexandrian schools
The childhood dysphonia is reported by various researchers to have a wide range of incidence that range from 4.4% to 38%, but the researchers agreed that the peak age for emergence of childhood dysphonia is between 5 and 10 years [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Dysphonia studied students, while G2 was perceived in the rest of them. 153 (64%) of the dysphonic students were males while the rest were females and a significant relation between dysphonia and gender has been found (X2 =19.14,p=0.000). 85 (35%) children were in school grade four at the time of the study 56 (23.5%) children were in grade five while 97 (41.5%) children were in grade six
Summary
Dysphonia is a common symptom in children, there is lack of mass screening studies to cover its prevalence rate in the Egyptian Alexandrian schools. The aim of the work was to screen Alexandrian school-age children for dysphonia in order to determine the prevalence and to detect its possible predisposing factors. The predisposing and aggravating factors for dysphonia were grouped into five categories: [1] Inadequate vocal habits, Elbanna and Elmaghraby The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology (2021) 37:105 studies of childhood dysphonia at school age especially that school conditions of governmental schools are very challenging. High noise levels ratios are among these challenging aspects These extreme school conditions may alter suspected predisposing factors for childhood dysphonia. Angelillo et al 2008 indicated that the pathogenesis of the dysphonia in pediatric age, is determined by how the child uses his voice and how it is used within the surrounding environment. )16(
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