Volumetric Analysis of the Vocal Folds Using Computed Tomography: Effects of Age, Height, and Gender

Objective The goal of this study was to use computed tomography (CT) volumetric analysis to assess the effect of age, gender, height, body mass index (BMI), and ethnicity on vocal fold volume in patients with normal larynges. Study Design Retrospective cross‐sectional study. Methods Vocal fold length, width, and height were measured in a total of 105 patients without a history of laryngeal or thyroid pathology on thin‐section soft‐tissue neck CTs. The product of the three dimensions was used to calculate vocal fold volume. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess for an association between vocal fold volume and age, gender, height, BMI, and ethnicity. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were estimated to evaluate the degree interobserver and intraobserver agreement. Results Vocal fold volume was not associated with age, BMI, or ethnicity. Gender‐adjusted height (P = .002) and height‐adjusted gender (P = .016) were significantly associated with volume. Height remained significantly associated with volume after stratifying by gender (P