Clinical features, health-related quality of life, and adult voice in juvenile-onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis

Laryngoscope. 2011 Apr;121(4):846-51. doi: 10.1002/lary.21332. Epub 2011 Mar 11.

Abstract

Objectives/hypothesis: To determine clinical features, health-related quality of life, and adult voice in patients with a history of juvenile-onset recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (JORRP).

Study design: Case-control study.

Methods: All 32 patients with JORRP treated at Helsinki University Hospital between 1975 and 1994 were invited to an outpatient visit in spring 2008, and 18 of them (56%) entered the study. Each patient had an age- and gender-matched control subject with similar smoking habits. Videolaryngostroboscopy was performed and voice quality determined by acoustic and perceptual analysis. Voice-quality characteristics of the whole patient group and the recurrence-free patients were examined separately. Subjective voice-related disability was studied with voice handicap index (VHI) and health-related quality of life with a 15D questionnaire.

Results: Acoustic analysis showed that patients had statistically significantly higher values in percent jitter, percent shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio. Perceptual analysis indicated higher scores for patients in overall grade, roughness, breathiness, and strain. Acoustic and perceptual values for recurrence-free patients (n = 14) were also significantly higher than those for their matched paired controls. No statistically significant differences emerged for handicap related to voice or to health-related quality of life. Four study patients (22%) had undergone tracheotomy, indicating severity of juvenile-onset disease.

Conclusions: JORRP is a risk factor for permanent laryngeal pathology and voice-disturbances in adulthood.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age of Onset
  • Aged
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Disability Evaluation
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Laryngeal Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Laryngeal Neoplasms / psychology
  • Laryngeal Neoplasms / surgery
  • Laryngoscopy
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Papilloma / diagnosis
  • Papilloma / psychology
  • Papilloma / surgery
  • Quality of Life / psychology*
  • Sound Spectrography
  • Speech Acoustics
  • Stroboscopy
  • Video Recording
  • Voice Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Voice Disorders / psychology*
  • Young Adult

Supplementary concepts

  • Laryngeal papillomatosis