Pediatric Voice Handicap Index Profiles in Patients With Benign Vocal Fold Lesions

Benign vocal fold lesions (BVFL), including nodules, polyps, and cysts, are the most common etiology of dysphonia in the pediatric population. Voice surveys, such as the Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (PVHI), have become instrumental in the evaluation and monitoring of pediatric patients with dysphonia; however the symptom profiles reported in surveys have not yet been well correlated to specific etiologies for dysphonia. In a retrospective chart review of 95 patients with PVHI surveys and laryngoscopic exams, we sought to correlate the PVHI results with findings of BVFL. Forty-five patients in our study had BVFL. We found that the physical portion of the PVHI survey (PVHI-p) and the overall severity visual analog scale correlated significantly to the presence of BVFL, while the functional and emotional portions (PVHI-f and PVHI-e), the overall PVHI score, and the talkativeness scale did not. This supports the idea that the PVHI is a useful tool for pediatric dysphonia evaluation, and that paying particular attention to the distribution of symptoms within specific portions of the PVHI may be useful for predicting a patient's etiology of dysphonia.