Evaluation of Voice in Patients with Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody Associated Vasculitides.

Objective: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitides (AAV) can affect the upper and lower respiratory tract. Evaluation of voice quality was aimed at patients with AAV in this paper. Materials and Methods: In this study, AAV-diagnosed patients and their age-gender-compatible healthy counterparts were enrolled. Participants with histories of airway surgery, smoking, laryngopharyngeal reflux symptoms, allergy, active nose, throat, and larynx infection were excluded. After the otolaryngologic examination, Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI) scores, maximum phonation times (MPT), auditory-perceptual analysis of voice (GRBAS score), and acoustic analysis were performed. The MPT, VHI, GRBAS, F0, jitter, shimmer, and harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR) values of both groups were compared statistically. Parameters were evaluated using the PRAAT software. Results: There were 30 subjects in each group (16 women and 14 men). The mean ages were 51.1 and 51.5 years in the patient and control groups. Significant differences were found between the two groups regarding median VHI scores, MPT, and GRBAS scores (p<0.05). While median VHI and GRBAS scores were higher in the vasculitis group, median MPT was shorter. Conclusion: Voice quality may disturb patients with AAV, especially in terms of VHI, MPT, and GRBAS scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]