Evaluation of the laryngeal involvement and voice quality in crohn disease

Objective: A few cases of laryngeal involvement have been reported for Crohn disease. However, laryngeal involvement may be greater than expected. This study aimed to evaluate the laryngeal involvement and voice quality in patients with Crohn disease. Methods: A total of 100 participants were included in the study: 50 patients with Crohn disease and 50 healthy people in a control group. Maximum phonation time, fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio were measured during acoustic voice analysis. All patients underwent laryngostroboscopic evaluation. A subjective evaluation was performed using the Turkish version of Voice Handicap Index-10. Results: There were not any significant differences between the groups in relation to sex and age (p=0.407). In the acoustic analyses, fundamental frequency and voice handicap index measurements did not differ between the groups (p>0.05). In contrast, jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonics ratio measurements were significantly higher in patients with Crohn disease. Maximum phonation time, Voice Handicap Index-10 scores, and stroboscopic evaluation did not differ between the groups. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to objectively evaluate the larynx and the vocal folds in particular in patients with Crohn disease. Acoustic analysis revealed significant differences, especially in the perturbation parameters. The stroboscopic evaluation and Voice Handicap Index-10 scores did not differ between patients and control groups.