Female Patients with Reinke's Edema: The Effect of Menopause Status on Voice-Related Disease Severity

To investigate the vocal characteristics of female patients with RE while accounting for menopause status as a confounding factor.

Retrospective chart review METHODOLOGY: The medical records of female patients diagnosed with Reinke's edema who presented to the Voice and Swallowing Unit between February 2020 and March 2026 were reviewed. Demographic data included menopause status, disease laterality, severity, and treatment. The outcome measures included the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), fundamental frequency (F0), habitual pitch (HP), jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR), voice turbulence index (VTI), and maximum phonation time (MPT).

A total of 52 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the study group was 55.77 ± 10.43 years. Thirty-four women were postmenopausal (65.4%). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean VHI-10 scores across subgroups with different disease severity (P = 0.958). Similar results were noted in the subgroups with and without menopause. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean F0 across subgroups with different disease severity (P = 0.002). However, subgroup analysis of postmenopausal patients showed no significant difference in F0 between the three subgroups. Only in the subgroup of non-menopausal patients was the difference statistically significant (P = 0.001). With respect to HP, only in the subgroup of non-menopausal patients, those with type 1 and 2 disease had a significantly higher mean HP (157.88 ± 32.70) compared to those with type 3 (119.37 ± 21.98) (P = 0.011). Both NHR (0.136 ± 0.058 vs 0.235 ± 0.053, P = 0.003) and VTI (0.034 ± 0.016 vs 0.070 ± 0.024, P = 0.008) were significantly higher in non-menopausal women with type 3 disease compared to those with type 1 and 2 disease.

The results of this investigation suggest that menopause status may influence the relationship between disease severity and vocal pitch in female patients with RE. Further research on the impact of menopause on voice in a larger cohort of patients with RE is needed to establish strong persuasiveness.