Voice Assessment and Voice-related Quality of Life in Patients with Benign Thyroid Disease

Objective To identify the relationship between vocal self-assessment, the assessment of voice by a speech-language pathologist (SLP), and the effect of voice on the quality of life of patients with benign thyroid diseases. Study Design Cross-sectional study. Setting University hospital. Subjects and Method A total of 67 women with a mean age of 44.7 14.8 years and a diagnosis of benign thyroid disease were included in the study. Vocal self-assessment and SLP assessment were performed using a visual analogue scale (VAS). The Voice-related Quality of Life Questionnaire (V-RQOL) was used to identify the effect of voice on quality of life. The Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests were used. Correlations between assessments were verified by the Spearman correlation test. The significance level was 5%. Results Patients with vocal complaints had lower scores in all assessments. Patients with thyroid nodules performed worse on the SLP assessment and on the physical functioning domain of V-RQOL. A moderate correlation was found between the self-assessment and quality of life and between the physical functioning domain of V-RQOL and the SLP assessment. A weak correlation existed between the self-assessment and the SLP assessment. Conclusion Patients with benign thyroid diseases had lower scores in vocal self-assessment, the clinical evaluation of voice, and the V-RQOL. These dimensions of voice assessment showed correlations ranging from mild to moderate and should complement the clinical routine.