Prevalence of Phonatory Symptoms and Impact on Quality of Life in Patients with Subacute Thyroiditis

Objective: To study the prevalence of phonatory symptoms in patients with subacute thyroiditis and their impact on quality of life. Materials and Methods: A total of 55 patients were recruited (22 with subacute thyroiditis and 33 controls). Data included: Age, gender, Allergy, smoking, disease duration, and thyroid function using their last TSH test. Subjects were asked about the presence or absence of the following symptoms: Hoarseness, vocal tiring or fatigue, vocal straining, lump sensation in the throat and aphonia or complete loss of voice. Patients filled out the Voice Handicap Index Ten (VHI-10) questionnaire and a cutoff of 7 was considered as indicative of a significant impact. Results: The most common symptoms were vocal tiring or fatigue and lump sensation (40.9%) followed by aphonia (31.8%). Aphonia or loss of voice and vocal straining were statistically more prevalent in patients with thyroiditis compared to controls with p value of 0.022 and 0.033 respectively. 59% of patients had at least one vocal symptom compared to 51.5% in controls. The difference was not statistically different (p 0.58). In 13.6% of patients with thyroiditis, the presence of phonatory symptoms had a significant impact on quality of life (score above 7). Based on a bivariate analysis there was no correlation between phonatory symptoms and any of the variables, namely TSH level and duration of disease. Conclusion: Patients with thyroiditis suffer significantly from vocal symptoms. In one out of five affected patients the impact of vocal symptoms on quality of life is significant.