Phonatory Symptoms and Acoustic Findings in Patients with Asthma: A Cross-Sectional Controlled Study

Objectives: Investigate the prevalence of phonatory symptoms, perceptual, acoustic, and aerodynamic findings in patients with asthma compared to a control group. Methods: A total of 50 subjects, 31 asthmatic and 19 control subjects matched according to age and sex, were enrolled in this study. All subjects were asked about the presence or absence of cough, dyspnea, respiratory failure, dysphonia, degree of vocal fatigue, and phonatory effort. Perceptual evaluation, acoustic analysis, and aerodynamic measurements were also performed. Patient self-assessment using the Voice Handicap Index 10 was reported. Results: The mean age of patients was 43.5 years with a female to male ratio of 2:1. There was a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of dysphonia between the 2 groups (32.3% vs 5.3%, P = .025) with a significant difference in the mean score of respiratory effort and vocal fatigue (P = .019, .041, respectively). The overall grade of dysphonia was significantly higher in asthmatics compared to controls (P = .002). Patients with asthma also had significantly higher degree of asthenia and straining with borderline significant difference with respect to roughness. There was no significant difference in the means of any of the acoustic parameters between patients and controls except for jitter. There was also no significant difference in the maximum phonation time between the 2 groups. Conclusions: Phonatory symptoms are significantly more prevalent in patients with asthma compared to controls.